Catalyst
by Inaqui
Summary: AU With the fate of billions resting on them, an unlikely pair must put the world and each other back together again, with time, the establishment, and just about everything else against them. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Full Summary:

The Asian continent is ruled by the Co-Prosperity Sphere, a totalitarian government that regulates every facet of daily life. Youkai are controlled through microchips in their brains, manipulated by Slavers: humans with spiritual powers who are slaves in their own right. The western powers have all but given up on the war for Asia, and the last outposts of resistance lie on Shikoku Island in Japan, but even the rebels can't agree on anything. Intrigues are destroying Shikoku from the inside out, and the Sphere is slowly winning.

After an unexpected escape from a forgotten seal by a forgotten prisoner, new and old secrets, intrigues and plots are revealed. A sheltered girl is torn from the only life she knows, and an outcast discovers what it's like to belong. Their bond might just be the only way to win the war. With the fate of billions resting on them, this unlikely pair must put the world and each other back together again, with time, the establishment, and just about everything else against them.

**Disclaimer:** InuYasha and his various associates do not belong to me, in any way, shape or form. I don't get any money from screwing merrily with canon and fanon or from contorting characters into aesthetically pleasing positions for my own sick amusement.

* * *

** Open Sesame **

Kagome sighed dramatically, though quietly, as she shifted herself on the hard bus seat. Her woollen school skirt was sticking her to the plastic bus seat as her thighs sweated. Ugh, how she hated that feeling.

Plus, her butt was asleep.

She gave another sigh and another wiggle, to no avail. She could swear that she could hear snoring coming from her behind. She resisted the urge to give a frustrated groan; Waseda was staring back at the students with a malicious little gleam in his eye, just waiting for the tiniest of infractions, the least little error, a cough, a sneeze…

"A-a-aaaCHOO!"

Gotcha.

"MATSUMOTO!"

"…sir."

Waseda stalked up the aisle of the bus, an unholy gleam in his eyes, his intent gaze centred on the unfortunate victim. Eri Matsumoto quivered in her seat, and Kagome winced slightly. Next to her, Yuka gave her arm a reassuring squeeze, out of sight of the teachers.

"Matsumoto, must I remind you of our expectations? Your obligations? This visit is a privilege."

Kagome had the urge to snort. Riiiight… could a privilege be compulsory?

"I expect everyone's behaviour to reflect this fact. You are being given an opportunity to witness firsthand the work that the Co-Prosperity Sphere does to keep you safe, to keep us all safe." Waseda paused dramatically to sweep a disapproving stare round the students sitting ramrod straight in the bus. Kagome kept her eyes front, not daring to look at her friend as she was dressed down.

"Your blatant disrespect is disgusting, Matsumoto. When we arrive at the Base I expect this attitude to have evaporated, am I clear?"

"Sir," Eri all but whispered. Kagome held her breath, waiting for the punishment.

"6 hours extra workshop for the next four weeks, Matsumoto. Let that be a lesson."

… Was that all? Kagome breathed out, feeling Yuka doing likewise next to her. She had expected at least a grade drop, or even a lashing. They were paranoid about misbehaviour on these excursions to Sphere Bases.

Kagome sighed again, turning and resting her forehead on the cool glass of the window; Waseda, now satisfied, had returned to the front of the bus and was smiling sadistically out at the scenery. Honestly, some people just love rules that _little_ bit too much.

It was late spring, and the day was slightly overcast, but warm enough that the school had not issued them jumpers today. Kagome shifted in her seat, trying to wake her butt up, but it slumbered on. Her skirt was irking her, too; the one she had been given that morning was tiny, far too short for her height. She had suspicions about the man in charge of uniform allocations.

"Kagome," Yuka hissed beside her. Kagome's head whipped round, checking the front of the bus, but Waseda was talking to the other teacher with a smile on his face, not looking their way.

"Yeah?" she whispered back, barely a breath and a movement of lips. Sound carried in an echo-ey bus.

"Do you think… they'll make us watch another procedure today?" Yuka's voice was low and frightened, but Kagome could find no way to reassure her.

"Yeah, I think so. They cottoned on to my fainting, remember? I got ten lashes for that," she finished in a grumble. For a while she had been able to avoid having to sit through one of the horrible procedures… until they actually brought a real doctor in to examine her after one of her convenient "fainting spells".

She had had sores on her back for months from that punishment. She was not willing to try it again this time… she would just have to sit through the whole thing.

Yuka bit her lip and turned her face back to the front. Kagome gave her hand a squeeze, trying to convey her support.

The bus rounded a corner and a huge sign came into view.

_Akiyama Base. Authorized personnel only beyond this point. Strictly Permit 53 Area._

She shivered.

Soon…

Waseda stood again, facing the 60 students in the bus.

"When we stop, assemble in inspection formation beside the bus."

"Sir!"

* * *

"Right, that's all in order, proceed through, sir," the soldier drawled, handing the pass back to Waseda and waving the bus through the third and final checkpoint. He winked at the girls on the bus with a leer around his chewing gum. Kagome stared with apprehension at the razor wire, the shimmering turquoise barrier, the security cameras, the water-filled trenches, the salivating patrol dogs eyeing her with a hungry gleam.

God she hated this.

A group of six humanoid youkai in formation jogged beside the bus, eyes completely blank, although one's tail wagged slightly. Kagome shuddered, turning away from their… escort. Not in revulsion for the youkai themselves, but what they represented. Just in case one of the students whipped out a rocket launcher and went postal, there were these handy-dandy zombies on call.

God… she _loathed_ this.

The bus slid to a smooth stop beside a billboard, which proclaimed in bold, colourful bubble-type the benefits of Class-designated jobs. A woman with huge and scarily white teeth grinned savagely. Her badge proudly declared her a personal assistant and Class B.

_I _know_ I can do _my_ job. Are _you_ in a regulated Class-designated career?_

Kagome stuck her tongue out covertly at the blonde woman with the enormous white teeth. Honestly, this was Japan. Why was the woman promoting the government a westerner?

"CLASS A'S!"

Kagome and the other students jolted violently out of their despondent thoughts, backs locking into perfect posture automatically. Waseda glared, daring any one of them to deviate.

"Disembark and assemble, rank order!"

"Sir!"

Kagome stood, startling her butt out of unconsciousness, squeezed past Yuka, and marched to the front of the bus and down the stairs. She took her position at the head of the formation and tried not to wince or wiggle at the vicious attack of pins and needles. Her friend Hideaki Hojo exited and stood with her, shooting her a quick smile. She just winked back; Waseda chose that moment to stick his shiny head out of the door. She and Hojo were the top two ranked in the school class, and thus the top two ranked in the city in their age group. Kagome had been bumped by at least a course at nearly every evaluation she had had, and Hojo was nearly two years older than she in their graduating year.

Kagome's friends and classmates all took their positions until the whole group stood in straight lines, feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind their backs and eyes staring directly ahead.

Kagome sighed as she stood at attention in her position in the line. Waseda stalked back and forth in front of them, lecturing them further about upholding the reputation and values of the school, the importance of their behaviour, how it reflected their desire to be productive members of society.

It was pointless, Kagome thought with an inward sigh and mental tongue-poking at Waseda, who was turning slightly purple in his enthusiastic tirade on discipline. He would hurt himself that way. In any case, no one would dare risk the punishments exacted for any transgression on a Sphere Base. She was amazed that Eri had gotten away with just a lecture and extra workshop for her little sneeze on the bus.

Finally, Waseda nodded to another teacher, who called out names on a clipboard to assign students to a guide. Kagome felt the knots in her stomach draw tighter. She knew it was only a matter of time until they would be forced to witness "the wonders of the Co-Prosperity Sphere".

Lectures were not so terrible. She knew what to expect from these, and what to let pass over her completely.

It was the visits that were so unpleasant. Every quarter another came around. And every quarter they had managed to find some new horror to show them. Last year, their first procedure. Then, a disciplinary session. Then, an interrogation. Last quarter, their first… elimination.

Kagome had thrown up. And been punished accordingly.

She had read about this sort of thing in a contraband pamphlet she had found in her Shrine's attic. "Cultural desensitising". The more you see something, the less you care about it.

Well, damnit, she still cared. Was it better that way, though?

But then, she supposed she was rather... not subversive, she would not be alive if she was. More like… unreceptive. She doubted anyone else had the gall to mentally make faces at Waseda. Most of her friends swore that he could read minds, punish them in their dreams.

"Higurashi Kagome."

"Sir!" Oh shit, what if that was true?

"Group 2. Security department."

Trenches and fences, cameras and barriers. Yippee. She kept a tight leash on her emotions as she marched to the assembling Group 2. Another of her friends, Ayumi, gave her a tense smile from beside her in the formation.

Idly Kagome wondered what Class B's, C's and D's were shown on these excursions. She should ask someone. But then, she doubted that they would answer. She was Class A, superior in every facet of life, and she held power over the other Classes even at just 16. Anyone she asked would most likely just stammer and then make an excuse to run away, lest they displease her with their answer. If she asked one of her teachers, she would be punished for her insolence.

She sighed. As a Class A, she would most likely by recruited by the Sphere after graduation, a politician maybe, or a doctor, or one of their droves of lawyers. She would never end up the pervert who doles out uniforms before school every day. He was Class D, through and through.

Speaking of which, the skirt was _definitely_ too short. If she spun around too fast she would be giving a free show! Honestly… why _he_ could not be confined to his Class zone, she did not know.

Maybe she would report him… hopefully they would replace him with an old woman with a reverence for modesty and a disdain for indecently short skirts. Creepy Uniform Guy would be stuck in the Class D slum, then. No work pass, no trans-barrier trips.

"Group 2, such casualness in unacceptable!" Waseda barked. The students all snapped to attention, and with a cursory nod he indicated the slim woman beside him. She was dressed in crisp brown uniform, lapels marking her a Captain and thus a Class A, and she stood perfectly straight beside him, clipboard hugged to her chest. Her hair hung straight and sleek to her shoulders, every strand perfectly in place, not even a bang ruffled, the epitome of elegance, poise and discipline. Her dark eyes roamed over the students before her, expression giving nothing away, but nonetheless Kagome felt the urge to shrink when that cold gaze touched her.

"This is Captain Ai, your instructor for the day. Pay her every respect. Do not give me reason to be displeased with you," he spat, before turning on his heel and stalking off again.

Ai watched him go with a look of contempt, a small sneer lifting the corner of her glossy lips. Bringing an icy gaze back to her group, she swept another glance over them, and by her expression, she was unimpressed. Settling her clipboard on her left forearm, she paged through her notes and found a roll.

Her chin lifted haughtily and her eyes flashed. "My name is Captain Ai, and I will be addressed as such. I am Class A of higher position than you, and will be treated as such. You will listen, and you will learn. You will not interrupt. Should you have a question or comment, you will raise your hand, and wait for an indication to speak. You will state your name before your question or comment. Is that understood?"

When no student said anything, she nodded tightly. "Good. Follow me."

* * *

Kagome trotted to keep up with Ai as she marched across the parade-grounds. The Base was a massive, sprawling construction, with four separate buildings of enormous size enclosing the central quad used for demonstrations, formation and general all-purpose gathering. Then, the containment blocks, huge amorphous lumps of unpainted concrete crackling with spiritual energy. The aircraft hangers, tank bunkers and barracks were behind the various warehouses, which were full of ammunition, supplies, rations, uniforms and spare parts. Behind the hangars were the vast training fields, the rifle ranges, the airstrips and the cages. Kagome had seen this Base enough times over the past ten years to be intimately familiar with its layout.

The bus had parked near the central administration building that bordered on the parade-grounds, and the security department building lay just inside the innermost fence. Ai strode straight along the bitumen road, ignoring the units of soldiers who scrambled to get out of her way. Her high-heels clacked loudly and her bearing was all-business.

The security department building was shaped like an air-traffic-control tower, a tall thin stem with a wider disc-like section at the top. Ai pushed in a code at the foot of the tower and the reinforced steel door hissed open. She ushered the students in impatiently, the door beginning to close slowly as its time meter ran out.

Kagome looked around disinterestedly. The interior was the same as always: a small room of about 5 meters diameter, all harsh concrete and gleaming steel. The huge elevator cage rattled down to their level and two soldiers opened the metal bars, letting the group in.

After a shaky and lurching ride, the cage reached the top floor and the students crowded in behind the Captain. The room was far bigger than it look from the outside. Screens with feeds from security cameras around the Base lined the walls, with keyboards, touch screens and input stations in banks beneath them. The main computer bank that controlled most of the security systems lay on the far side of the room, the background noise of clicks and whirrs of the machines grating on Kagome's nerves. Ten uniformed people were positioned about the room, all concentrating on their screens and not even looking up at the entrance of the students.

Ai strode forward to whisper briefly to a man at the main console, before turning back to her Group. The man swung his chair around and fixed them all with a lazy grin, his posture relaxed and informal.

"This is Captain Jinda, security system operator in charge of monitoring the data feeds and the screens. Tell them what you do, Jinda," she said with a slight raise of her eyebrows as she stepped aside. He flashed her a winning smile and turned back to the students, rubbing his hands together.

"Alright, kids, well… I watch the screens to make sure that none of the subjects are getting too restless. If they do I'm authorised to release a dose of gas that paralyses them for a few hours." He clicked his fingers and beckoned. A man left his bank of consoles and joined Jinda, facing the students.

Kagome felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. His face was utterly blank, void of anything and everything. His uniform, a dark blue bodysuit with a mandarin collar with silver trim and embroidered chain links on the collar and belly, shouted to the world what he was. A Slaver.

Jinda slung an arm loosely around the Slaver's shoulders. The blank expression did not budge an inch, empty eyes staring at a point on the floor. "This here is 4602. He monitors fluctuations and levels of spiritual energy and youki in the Base and surrounding areas. It's also from his body that the barriers around the perimeter are maintained. He draws on the power of the other Slavers in the Base, and acts as a conduit into the barriers and seals."

4602 blinked. Slowly. Agonisingly.

Ayumi lifted her hand, and Jinda gave her a lazy nod. She bit her lip, staring at 4602 with something like horror before saying quietly, "Can he… feel anything?"

Jinda laughed and squeezed the Slaver round the shoulders, giving 4602's black hair a ruffle. "Of course he can! He knows what's going on around him, just can't do anything about it. He was a bit of a rebel before we reined him in, weren't you, Two-ey?"

Ai stepped forward, clearing her throat. "4602 has been implanted with the strongest inhibitor chip produced, which is why he's used for such an important task. There's no risk of him compromising the security on this Base as there might be with a less restricted Slaver."

The hair on the back of Kagome's neck was standing up, her skin crawling with the sense of something she could not name or define. 4602's gaze had moved from the carpeted floor gradually, torturously upwards. Dimly she heard Jinda giving a lecture on the importance of security in a Base with as much firepower and as many unchipped subjects as Akiyama, but Kagome was not listening.

4602 was staring straight at her. She could see him trying to show something in his blank eyes, his face looking somehow desperate even as it showed nothing.

Kagome was just as desperately trying not to cry.

What was his real name? Who were his family? What had he been or wanted to be before they stole his life from him? Questions raced through her brain, questions punishable by imprisonment if she spoke them aloud. Questions with no answers, pointless questions that would just bring more if they were asked.

But she had to think them, at least. This man, this shadow of a man, deserved someone to wonder about him, even if she could do nothing else.

"Two-ey? Whatcha starin' at?"

Kagome instantly snapped her head to stare at the nearest camera feed as Jinda followed the path of 4602's gaze. An eyebrow quirked, a readout was glanced at, and a wink given to Ai, in the space of a few seconds.

But Kagome did not notice. She was too busy being horrified all over again.

Her stare had fallen on a vast block of camera feed screens. A white room was in each one, each room holding one occupant. Mostly humanoid, some clearly not, some so strange that she would never have believed them real at any other time. Some so tiny that the feed showed barely a speck, some so large that the frame barely captured the whole of it. Some so normal-seeming that they could be someone that she passed on the street, a teacher, a family friend. Some that had to be children, or youthful at the least. Some railing against the walls, some sitting patiently, quietly, some yelling, some pacing, some sleeping, some threatening the camera, some simply crying.

The worst thing was the silence. The impassioned tirades, the cries, the screams… all soundless, detached. A chill went down Kagome's spine.

She continued to stare at the screens, the real reason that this Base, all Bases, really existed. The real reason for the quarterly excursions. To teach them, engrain in them, the threat that lay in those white cells, the reasons that the city was enclosed, was divided into sections, the passes, the microchips, the papers, why the countryside was not safe.

The reason for everything, it seemed. Youkai, the citizen's scourge and statesman's dream, she mused bitterly. Justification and scapegoat for anything and everything. The things that humans must be protected from, and to be safe, sacrifices must be made, for the good of all.

Kagome, an emotional girl at the best of times, was hard pressed not to just burst out crying as her gaze zeroed in on a particular screen. A tiny child-like youkai sat on the cot provided, facing the camera and crying. He clutched at his fuzzy red tail, filthy like the rest of him, and Kagome could clearly lip-read the word he was wailing. 'Mama.'

It was too much, and she tore her gaze away. Breathing hard, but trying to stay quiet, she discreetly inspected the reactions of her fellow students. They all looked fairly indifferent. She had expected that, though. No one seemed to react the way she did, with the small exception of her mother. Even her younger brother was being conditioned to hate, fear, obey. He had no memory of before, of their father.

He would be going on one of these field trips soon, being shown almost all the things she was. Only his youth saved him the full show, for now, at least.

Jinda bowed as the students clapped politely, Kagome joining in belatedly as she realised that his spiel was finished. Ai gave the other Captain a curt nod and turned to the group of students. To Kagome's dismay, she gestured to the screens that the girl had been staring at. "This is the block of containment cells. We will be going there next."

Kagome wondered if she would _really_ faint, this time.

* * *

"This is where we keep the wild youkai," Ai lectured clinically as the group of students followed her down the white hall. Metal doors glowing faintly with spiritual power lined the walls. It disturbed Kagome again that she could not hear the youkai behind those doors; the seals blocked all sensory information and energy signatures.

Ai waved a hand as she strode down the hall, heels clicking against the hard floor. "These youkai are yet to undergo the subjugation procedure, and as such must be contained by spiritual barriers. The sensors alongside the doors react to certain spiritual auras; if touched by a person with spiritual energy, the doors and barriers deactivate. This only occurs after the youkai inside has been subdued through paralysis gas released through the vents controlled by central control, however. It is far too dangerous any other way."

One of the girls in the group raised her hand and Ai nodded curtly to her. "Kitahara Hana. Where are the controlled youkai kept?"

"There is an alternate cell block for subdued youkai. Slavers are positioned there at all times so as to keep the inhibitor chips active. If a youkai is not joined to a Slaver at all times, the chip deactivates and the youkai is unleashed, until another Slaver reconnects with the chip. As such, it is imperative that there be a significant presence of spiritually adept people on this base at all times."

The hall opened out in a larger room, which Ai named as the central control area. Technicians and procedural personnel bustled about, all in their uniforms, be they white coat or blue scrubs. A second mezzanine floor ringed the walls of the room, and a single huge white marble statue stood in the middle, rising through both levels. It showed a man with disproportionately bulging muscles, his head tipped up toward the sky, one hand outstretched, the other holding a reptilian corpse. A replica stood in every Sphere building, meant to symbolise the superiority of human over youkai. Kagome snorted in her mind. Cliché and ostentatious, more like.

Just beside the statue on a raised dais sat an old woman. Her eyes were blank in her wrinkled face and stared straight ahead. Kagome shivered and averted her eyes to see Ai watching her speculatively. Their gazes locked for a moment before Ai turned away to continue their tour, leaving Kagome's hair standing on end.

"We are now headed toward the amphitheatre, where you will witness firsthand a procedure, the single most important task that the Sphere performs. It is what allows you to live carefree lives, to be safe in your homes."

Kagome switched off, something she had become very good at over the years. It seemed to be the only thing that saved her from the conditioning she could see washing over the other students in the group. Reinforcing years of brainwashing and prejudice. She calmly walked on, eyes front, in her position next to Hojo, as Ai led them further into the warren of the containment cells.

"Captain Ai?" Hojo raised a hand tentatively.

The woman turned and fixed him with a cold stare. "Name?"

"Hojo Hideaki."

"What is your question, Hojo?"

His eyes were eager, and Kagome frowned inwardly. She had thought that Hojo, maybe… was not like them…

"These all seem to be small doors, so they must contain small youkai. Where are the larger or more powerful ones kept?"

A faint smile passed over Ai's face. "Good question. We'll take a detour to show you."

The Captain resumed her march down the halls, leaving the central room, the group of students following in their orderly lines. The doors lining the walls grew steadily larger, the ceiling higher, and the hallway wider. The endless monotony of white doors began to be punctuated by recesses containing chairs, some occupied, some not.

Ai halted and turned back to the group. "Here are where the larger youkai are kept. Larger does not necessarily mean more powerful, but this is also where Tai-youkai are held before their procedure. The more powerful a youkai is, the more difficult for a Slaver to control the field surrounding a cell. Thus, a larger number of Slavers are concentrated here." She pointed to a nearby recess, in which a uniformed man sat, eyes as blank as the Slaver in the main room.

"It's his job to contain the youkai in this area."

Kagome felt a surge of pity for the man, and the youkai he controlled.

Her resolve hardened, swearing that she would never submit willingly to the control of the Sphere. She wished that he could be free, that they all could be… She wanted it to just stop, all of it. It was impossible, she knew, but she could dream.

"Ahh!" Kagome gasped and grabbed her head as pain shot through her skull.

"Higurashi!"

She stumbled, still clutching her head. Her heart thundered in her ears, her stomach roiled and the floor felt like it was tilting wildly. Red clouded her vision and an incredible painful pressure built inside her head. Release it; she had to get rid of it! The swollen feeling spread down her neck and extremities until her whole body was tingling and pulsing. She was going to explode! Get rid of it! Make it go away! A rushing noise grew louder and louder.

She fell onto the wall next to a door and slid to the ground. She could…_feel_ people crowding around her, feel their energy, feel the youkai behind the door, feel its anger, feel the Slaver down the corridor, feel his fear, his worry, his pain… feel the thing in his head that monitored his thoughts, controlled his body, feel its poison spread through his limbs as he stood and began to walk over to her… The pressure stabbed again in her brain and she curled into a tight ball with a cry.

Stop it! _Stop it!_ **_STOP IT!!!_**

With a rush she felt…whatever it was leave her body. The throbbing in her skull and body stopped, leaving her muscles quivering. The crushing weight of people around her lifted, and hesitantly she opened her eyes.

The other students were backing away slowly, Ai with them. Their eyes were fixed on a point above her, wide with fear.

With trembling hands, Kagome pushed up from the floor and turned. The door to the youkai containment cell was sliding open slowly, the shield of spiritual energy gone. Kagome felt her heart skip a beat as she saw all the doors down the hallway doing the same. Her head whipped around, searching for the Slaver, only to see him staring at his hands in awe, as if he had never seen them before.

His head lifted and their eyes met. Slowly, he bowed deeply to her, never breaking eye contact, and then he raised a hand in farewell. With that, he joined the students in hightailing it out of the hallway.

Leaving Kagome alone.

In the containment block of the most powerful youkai on the base.

The very _un_contained most powerful youkai.

With a shuddering breath, she stood, muscles still weak and shivering.

"You are a Slaver."

She screamed in fright at the gruff voice behind her and whipped around.

A pale female face was inches from her own, the skin almost luminescent, two black circles just below the hairline. Black hair twined around her body almost with a life of its own, and as Kagome eyes slid downwards, they widened. Four arms grasped eagerly towards her, sprouting from an androgynous torso, which was connected to a very long body of segmented chitin, thin legs growing in pairs from each segment.

Kagome gulped and raised her eyes to meet the youkai's once more. Arrogant black eyes stared into terrified blue, and a sadistic leer spread slowly across the youkai's face.

"You are a Slaver, yes? Only a Slaver can open these doors."

Kagome jumped again, before shaking her head emphatically. "No, I'm not, I'm just a-"

"Lies!"

With no other preliminary than that bellow, the centipede youkai swiped her claws across Kagome's belly. The schoolgirl jumped backwards, fast but not fast enough, and she screamed as the tips ripped shallow gashes in her flesh.

She turned and ran, wasting no more time, back the way Ai had brought them. All around her, the doors were open and youkai were emerging. Eyes of all shapes, sizes and colours glared at her as she ran, dodging the slashes and snaps before they had the chance to catch her. Behind her, she could hear the rattling of the centipede youkai's hundreds of feet on the smooth floor, her bellows crying out for Kagome's blood, as well as the bays and howls as other youkai joined the chase.

Rational thought had switched off. Instinct and adrenaline had taken control. Somewhere inside her, the normal Kagome was gibbering and sobbing in terror. Meanwhile, her body ran.

She slid round a corner, pushing off the wall and missing a claw by a millimetre. The smaller cell doors were open, too, but they were empty, their occupants obviously having left as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

As she drew closer to the central point, she heard the occasional scream and patter of gunfire. Mobilization had been quick, the calculating survival side of her noted. Her lungs ached and her belly burned, but she did not stop. She couldn't. She turned a final corner and came to the central control area.

The statue was overturned and shattered. Kagome felt a small sense of perverted satisfaction at that. The Slaver woman was nowhere to be seen, her chair empty and currently being employed as a barrier for the soldiers to fire from. Youkai swarmed the balconies, unfortunate technicians and administration staff screaming and security personnel fighting back. Kagome barely had time to slide to a halt before a roar from behind her spurred her on again.

Trying desperately to remember which hall Ai had brought them in through, Kagome sprinted towards the soldiers behind the chair. She was sure that they would not last long, two of them down already, but she had to find her escape route first.

A soldier's eyes fell on her and widened. With a shout, he beckoned her over. She stumbled in beside him, tripping on the detritus and statue remnants. He put a protective arm over her as a tentacle came sailing towards them. One of the other two men shot at it before the slimy thing twined around his gun, yanking both him and his weapon into the youkai's gaping maw.

Panting out of both exertion and fear, Kagome shouted to the soldier, "Which hall is the exit?"

He shook his head. "Too dangerous. I'm waiting for back up."

"I asked you a question, Class D!" Kagome was not in the mood. For once, she had no qualms about pulling rank.

He shot her a shocked glance before nodding. "Alright, suicidal chick, it's the one right behind us." When she made to rise, he clamped his arm back around her, pinning her to the floor. "Not yet, you idiot!"

"I have to get out of here!" Kagome's voice was shrill and panicked. The cool calm side of her was getting scared, too.

He ducked behind the chair briefly before popping up again to shoot at a boar youkai making to charge. His eyes scanned the chaos and a grin lit his face.

"Calm down, cavalry's here."

Kagome followed his gaze and gasped. Emerging from one of the tunnels was a platoon of youkai with dead eyes. Youkai imbedded with microchips.

A humanoid youkai with yellow hair and a thick yellow tail pointed, and the rest converged on the wild youkai. Growls, squeals and sounds beyond description tore through the air as the inhuman battle was joined.

Kagome did not wait. She leapt up, ignoring the soldier's cries, whirled and ran for the hallway behind her. Dodging debris and assorted body parts, she felt her heart lift when nothing seemed to notice or follow her.

The hall was abandoned and Kagome let her pace slow slightly. Her chest heaved as she jogged through the white corridors, praying that she was going the right way. Hadn't the Sphere heard of signs? The place was a warren.

Natural light from around a corner made her heart lift. Picking up her pace again, she grinned in relief as she burst through the doors.

Before she saw the courtyard.

It was in a worse state than the central area in the containment cells. Youkai and humans were locked in bloody conflict, screams, roars and sounds that made Kagome's hair stand on end filling the air. The scene was utter chaos.

And she had a very, _very_ bad feeling that it was her fault.

"SLAVER!"

Guilt set aside to be examined later, Kagome took off again. That voice had bellowed threats at her enough through the halls of the containment block for her to recognise it. She skirted the courtyard, dodging more flying objects and extremities as she ran from the centipede youkai who was so intent on having her blood. Scanning desperately for any safe havens, her heart sank even as it sped up in panic as she saw every point overrun with wild and blood-lusting youkai.

She darted down an alley between two buildings, regretting it immediately when she saw it was deserted. Even less protection. As she skidded to a stop and turned to go out again, a hungry female face loomed uncomfortably close.

So down the dark abandoned alley she ran. How cliché, her detached and cynical mind thought. Now you just have to find a creepy old man who owns an abattoir to help you.

The tight space slowed down her pursuer considerably. The centipede youkai had to resort to twisting sideways and following from the gutters. Kagome's mind was a whirl as she tried to figure out how to lose it.

At the sight of an overhang down an adjoining alley even tighter than the one she ran down, she could not help but sob with relief, even harder when she saw doors. She could hide there, for now.

The doors to the warehouse were stiff. Tears running down her cheeks, she pushed then shoved with her shoulder, before finally giving an angry slap with an open palm. Abruptly, the black metal contraption shifted inward and swivelled behind her, sending her stumbling forward and leaving her in an odd entrance chamber. She whirled to shut the entrance, but her jaw dropped instead. She was not exactly sure how these doors worked, but they had acted like revolving ones. The sheer black wall in front of her made no sense at all.

Thanking, not questioning, her good luck, she pressed an ear to the doorway, listening for any sign of her pursuer, trying to silence her still-panicked hiccups.

"SLAVER! Come out and face me!"

Kagome winced but listened on, her shuddering breaths calming and tears drying up. Several minutes and dozens of threats later, she finally breathed normally again. The youkai could not come down. Rubbing a hand to her neck, aching with tension she could not release, she turned from the door with a sigh and walked woodenly out of the entrance chamber into the building proper.

A huge room lay before her, practically empty, of people, equipment or anything else she might have expected. Just a high roof, four walls and a whole lot of…nothing. Windows near the roof provided light, and Kagome could not see anything resembling electric lights hanging from the steel beams that helped support the vast roof.

Far too tired to wonder about it, Kagome leaned against the wall next to the entrance and slid to the ground, her exhaustion and fear catching up to her. Her body began to shake as the adrenaline drained out of her system and the shock of what had happened set in. The pain from the myriad cuts and bruises on her body, especially the cuts on her belly, came to the fore of her mind again. The adrenaline had numbed them, but now she just _hurt_. Her hip where she had landed next to the soldier, her belly, her head, her ankle, her neck, her knee, her shoulder, her elbow.

A tear leaked out the side of her eye before she had even noticed that she felt like crying. It slid gently down her cheek, others building in its wake. A sob choked out of her chest, and she began to cry, her head buried in her knees and arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

She had no idea what had just happened. Just that unbearable pressure, and then all the doors had begun opening. She was so confused. She hated what the Sphere did to youkai, sure, but that did not mean that she wanted humans to die instead. Her mind and emotions were rattling around her brain and she was not sure she could take much more.

The youkai had had a chance to escape the procedure, but then they could be killed in the attempt. Was slavery better than death? Would they rather the chance to die than have their bodies turned into tools and become hostages inside their own minds? But then, what if a student had been hurt? Was having these youkai free worth the risk that someone innocent might be killed? What about the soldiers who had been killed? Were their lives somehow more expendable _because_ they were soldiers?

Most of all… was it _really_ her fault?

She did not know any of those answers. And her head hurt.

She wanted her mother.

A faint rustling in the far corner of the warehouse caught her attention. The expanse was not as empty as she had thought: plastic sheeting hung from the steel support beams, obscuring something.

Maybe it was a bathroom? Or a phone?

Clinging to that unlikely hope, wanting so badly to wash her face or get _out_ of there, she made her way across the dusty concrete floor. When was the last time they had cleaned this place? She had thought that the army were clean freaks. The Sphere were, in any case.

She reached out and grasped a sheet of the thick clear plastic, moving it aside and stepping through. Shock rippled through her and she gasped.

"Oh, my God."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait! ****

Disclaimer: InuYasha and his various associates do not belong to me, in any way, shape or form. I don't get any money from screwing merrily with canon and fanon or from contorting characters into aesthetically pleasing positions for my own sick amusement.****

Dawn 

It's all black. Or rather, nothingness that I imagine is black. No sight, no feeling, no sound, no scent. Just a whole lot of nothing. And the dreams. I dream a lot. Most of the time they're more like memories drudged up from some dark, secret place that I never go willingly. I'm caged, mind and emotions subdued. Restraints on everything. It's all about controlling the beast.

There are dreams. Horrible, angry, painful dreams. Then, long periods of nothing at all. Just the void inside my head.

The first thing I notice is the smell.

There is nothing, and then…this scent is suddenly here. It wends its lazy way from my nose to my mind, the first thing that has _been_ for so long. My brain is struggling to keep up, but the scent is there.

It's… soft. Feminine. Young. Angry.

Blood.

Ears kick in. Soft footsteps.

Coming closer. Plastic rustles.

Gasp.

Soft. Feminine. Young. Scared.

"Oh, my God."

Closer. Closer.

_ZAP!_

"OW! Damnit!"

The dust wears off the old cogs and things begin to sink in. All I have is scent and sound, though; the inhibitors are still on. The anger, fear, shock…far away.

Suddenly, the scent is very, very close.

I feel a hand on my cheek.

A hand on my _ear_.

Soft. Feminine. Young. Sad.

Then everything happens at once.

Pain; spinal implants wrench away; pain; youki unfurls; ears twitch; pain; inhibitors drop; mind clears. Pain.

Eyes snap open.

She's shocked.

And so am I.

* * *

She dropped the plastic sheet with a gasp when she saw him. A young man, strapped up against the wall, wires and cords all over him. His head was bowed and limbs spreadeagled, in possibly the most humiliating position she could imagine.

He was youkai. She could tell. The silver hair and animal ears rather gave it away. But why was he holed up in some empty warehouse? Why was he unconscious? What were all those wires for? Who was he?

She took another step towards him, staring at his neck. A huge wire ran around to the back of it on top of his hair, and with the angle of his head, she could see how it sank into his spinal cord at the base of his skull. What on earth…

_  
ZAP!_

"Ow! Damnit!"

Kagome squinted to try to see what had just shocked her outstretched hand. Resisting the urge to stamp a foot, she concentrated, trying to see if it were a motion beam, and if so, where it came from.

Her eyes narrowed. She could not see a beam but…she felt…something. Suddenly, it just fell away in her mind, so she tentatively reached a hand out again. Relieved when nothing shocked her, she resumed her slow approach.

She could see the wires everywhere on his skin, now. In his legs, arms, chest… He was wearing nothing except a few rather strategically placed restraint straps, but that did not embarrass her, merely disturbed her more. Her skin crawled and she felt vaguely ill, just as she had in the security building at the image of the contained youkai. This one wasn't just contained: he was completely controlled. And she did _not_ like it.

Her hand cupped his cheek gently. The skin was golden and smooth, and oddly warm.

So he was alive.

Her eyes slid helplessly up to the little silver ears buried in his hair. Her hand followed her gaze's trail, before gently stroking the soft fur.

She felt like crying, or throwing up, or squealing in ridiculous childish joy. Her head and heart were in a whirlwind. His fur was so soft; it was amazing. And yet…here he was, strapped to a wall, naked, with wires sticking into him everywhere, unconscious.

It was heartbreaking, the whole situation was. The youkai in the cells, this boy right in front of her. It was terrible, and she hated it. Her natural empathy made her imagine how she herself would feel, having her dignity and free will ripped away from her, being nothing more than an aberration to be controlled or eliminated. What if she was the one naked, restrained, with more wires in her than a television?

Her brow furrowed and her eyes filled with tears even as her will solidified. If there were anything she could do about it…

Suddenly, the pressure began to build again in her skull. She began to panic, but just as abruptly the feeling released. Before she had time to wonder, things began to happen very quickly.

A wire landed on her foot and bounced off to the floor with a clatter. The rest of them followed in a hail, leaving red circles and welts behind on the boy's brown skin. There was a sound like a drill and then the cord into his spinal cord fell, too.

The ear that her hand was touching twitched.

The youkai's eyes opened.

* * *

It had been a long time. I'm not even sure _how_ long.

But how could I possibly forget that face?

The blue eyes don't register, staring in shock and utter confusion up at me in a face that's way too innocent.

I just know that she looked like the woman who killed me.

I snarl, my head jerking forward to try and snap at her. The belt restraints across my body are still intact, reinforced by miko energy that's impossible for me to break. That doesn't stop me trying though. I thrash and fight, desperate to tear myself free.

The girl steps back with a scream, her eyes huge and terrified, and covers her head with her hands. When she feels no pain, an eye opens, then she stares at me as I struggle.

Finally, I stop. My stamina is terrible. That little workout has wiped me out.

So instead, I growl.

* * *

Kagome's heart was thundering a mile a minute as the youkai growled viciously at her. He had stopped struggling, thankfully, but she did not understand why he had not been able to break free. He was still suspended from the wall, and the restraints were still on.

All of them. Ahem.

She jerked her eyes back up to his face, which was fixed in a furious snarl while he glowered and growled at her. For the first time, she noticed his eyes.

They were golden, the most beautiful shade she had ever seen. Her fear forgotten, she stared, mesmerised by the shifting colours and intense emotion in them. He was so angry… well, she would be, too, she knew.

"What the fuck are you staring at, Kikyou? Come to finish the job?"

What? Kagome's eyebrows shot up and she blinked. Who on earth was Kikyou? She turned around apprehensively, seeing if there was anyone there.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, bitch."

She whirled back around, a scowl on her face. She was most definitely not in the mood to be insulted.

It had been a _very_ long day.

"Look, I don't know who this Kikyou person is, but don't you dare call me a bitch. I've only just met you!"

He blinked and for a moment looked utterly pained, heartbroken, vulnerable. Her indignation faltered and her voice was hesitant. "Who…who are you, anyway?"

The snarl was back on his face in an instant, the shock and other emotions masked under anger, but not before she saw them flash across his face.

"Listen, bitch-"

"**SLAVER!!!**

Kagome screamed, the colour draining from her face as it contorted in terror. A colossal crash rocked the building and she fell forward onto the youth's body. She hid her face in his chest, oblivious to his reaction, to anything except the pounding of her heart and the fear washing over her in thick waves.

The plastic sheets were torn from the beams. Kagome dared a peek, and froze as the centipede youkai grinned hungrily at her.

"Thought you could escape me, Slaver? Clever trick, shielding the building, but it wore off. Now I can have the pleasure of eating you. Limb by skinny little limb."

Her head jerked suddenly as she sniffed, surprise evident on her pale face. Black eyes slid to the still-bound boy on the wall. "Hanyou?"

He sneered, lifting the corner of his mouth with a growl. "What's it to you?"

The centipede youkai lifted an eyebrow. "A hanyou, bound? What a pathetic sight to see," she scoffed, her tone dripping with derision.

He snarled in return, renewing his struggles against the straps that held him. She smiled mockingly at him before returning her gaze to the stunned Kagome.

The hanyou stilled, his eyes widening as a realization hit him. Quickly, he lowered his head to Kagome's and whispered, "Oi wench. You wanna get out of this alive, you're gonna have to get me outta this."

Kagome's head snapped around to stare at him. "W-what?"

His stare was intent. "You woke me up. Now let me out. Or else that bitch is gonna eat you."

Her mouth opened and closed like a guppy, her eyes huge with fear and confusion.

She needed more prodding, he decided. "Do you _wanna_ die?"

The centipede youkai roared behind them. "As touching as this is, I grow hungry! Die, Slaver!"

Time seemed to slow down for Kagome. The scuttling of hundreds of legs behind her dimmed, and all she could see was the youth. The pressure inside her head began to build for the third time that day, and her hand shot out to grab hold of the strap across his chest. Her eyes screwed shut as the pressure built, the pain behind her eyes almost unbearable. She pulled with all her might, feeling the strap rip under her hands.

"I want to live!"

With a feral grin, the boy knocked her aside. She sprawled on the hard floor, getting more bruises on top of her bruises. The centipede youkai halted in mid leap, her forelegs clicking apprehensively as she assessed the threat of the hanyou. His grin widened, eyes glinting, as he twisted his shoulders and back with obscene popping sounds. Finally he stared hungrily at the centipede youkai, cracked his knuckled and brandished his claws. His eyes challenged her, and with a roar, she accepted.

Kagome cowered on the floor, rapt with morbid fascination as the fight began. The hanyou chuckled lowly as the centipede youkai launched herself at him, all four hands grasping and pale face twisted in rage. Kagome gasped as he launched himself off the ground, twisting in midair with easy grace. His claws flashed as he drew back his arm and swiped the empty air in front of him.

"Sankontessou!"

Curves of golden energy sliced towards the centipede youkai, who shrieked as they hit her, slicing her chest and body segments. Dark blood flew through the air and the hanyou grinned cockily. She glowered furiously at him, teeth bared in rage, and screeched as she flung herself forward, arms extended.

The hanyou touched down on the far side of the empty warehouse, legs flexing as he propelled himself skyward once more. The centipede youkai made a grab for him with a roar, but he pushed off the warehouse wall an instant before she caught him. Carried forward by her momentum, she crashed through the roof.

Kagome screamed and covered her head as the steel beams began to collapse around her. The central beam crashed to earth with a bone-rattling thud not a metre away from her. She screamed again, corrugated iron sheets raining down. Desperately she swept her gaze around her, searching for something to hide under.

The youth launched himself forward for another swipe at the centipede youkai's chest. She screamed her outrage and pain as he ripped through the pale flesh, the cocky grin still on his face. With a flashy twist, he flipped backwards out of her reach, pushing off a beam that leant from the remains of the roof to the ground.

The centipede youkai retreated, drawing back into a corner and watching him with wary, if furious, eyes. He ignored her for the moment, instead casting his eyes about in search of something completely different.

* * *

Kagome's eyes felt like they were going to fall out of her head.

Maybe it was the stress. She _had_ been running for her life most of the day. Her emotions had been toyed with like a yoyo. She was fairly sure that therapy of some kind would be necessary to deal with her certain to be considerable posttraumatic stress.

Whatever the reason, no matter the fact that this hanyou boy was now running around yelling and slashing things mere minutes after being released from something horrible, despite the fact that the bloodthirsty centipede youkai who was out to get her was mere metres away, not even mentioning the fact that a building had just fallen down around her.

She was blushing at seeing a guy naked.

---and _how!_

He had pulled the sheet of corrugated iron from atop her, then the red shirt that she had found and covered her head with, and stood there staring, as bare as the day he was born. More, probably: no amniotic fluid in sight. She had nearly fainted as she desperately backed away from him, sure her face was nicely impersonating a beetroot. With supreme effort she dragged her eyes up to his face. Eventually.

His snarl showed that he had obviously _seen_ her _seeing_ what really should not be _seen_ at all. She screamed, long and loud, not really sure why she was doing anything of the sort. Damn hormones. He snarled again, face furious, and she suddenly remembered the fact that he had very sharp claws that were very recently engaged in ripping a youkai apart.

And where the hell were the pants to go with that shirt?!

Words could not describe her relief when he tugged said item out from underneath another piece of the erstwhile roof. The fire in her face only mildly subsided, however. Her memory and imagination were now working overtime, making helpful little comments along the way.

When had she turned into a pervert?!

The youth turned his glare on the centipede youkai, quickly clothed, to a fashion. Before Kagome could blink he launched himself over the debris covering the warehouse floor, claws extended for battle once more. His opponent roared in return, eyes flashing with hatred, and she started to charge towards him. The two youkai clashed in the middle of the warehouse above the debris. The action was fast, and Kagome could hardly keep track of the blows. From what she could see, though, the hanyou was winning.

His claws ripped into the hard body of the centipede youkai again and again, jumping around her as if gravity meant nothing. A pale arm snaked out and grabbed his ankle, yanking him towards the ground. Kagome winced in sympathy as the centipede bit into his shoulder. With an angry yell, he shoved away from her, leaving some flesh behind in the process. Another feral grin graced his face as he flew backwards, and he dipped his claws in the bleeding wound.

"Hijin Kessou!"

Red crescents slashed through the rough chitin of her body, eliciting yet another enraged screech. Suddenly, the centipede youkai broke away from the fight and tore towards Kagome, all four arms extended and face a grimace of hideous rage. Kagome screamed in terror, able to do nothing else as her death scuttled towards her….

…and then the hanyou was in front of her, claws extended. With a snarl, he rocketed towards his opponent. Razor sharp claws caught the underside of the centipede youkai's neck, his momentum carrying him onwards, ripping her long body apart, rather neatly, right down the middle. Dark blood sprayed over the rubble and the centipede youkai thudded to the ground, her face frozen in shock and horror as it fell at Kagome's feet.

A scream tried to escape from the schoolgirl's throat, but she found herself with nothing but a strangled hoarse whimper. The macabre sight before held her gaze, transfixed and horrified, and she could do little but stare and hiccup panicked little breaths.

Finally the hanyou landed in front of her again, blocking her view of the corpse. Her tear-filled eyes slid up to meet his, narrowed in a cocky grin. It faltered slightly at her stricken expression, and his features melted into a snarl.

She squeaked in alarm and tried to back up, but the uneven floor of the warehouse betrayed her, and she landed with a grunt on her backside. Her terrified eyes stared, lower lip trembling, as he advanced on her.

"**HOLD IT!**"

The characteristic snick of safeties being slid aside and guns being cocked filled the overwhelmed silence. The hanyou froze, his furry ears swivelling like satellite dishes, cataloguing the various sounds and their origins, numbering the soldiers that were closing in on him.

Dizziness swept over Kagome as the adrenaline began to wear off. She passed her gaze around the warehouse. Soldiers with guns carefully trained on the hanyou youth were advancing cautiously, fanning out to surround him. His eyes were dark, shadowed, and she had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen. To him or the soldiers, she was not quite sure.

Scrambling to her feet, she launched herself at him, ignoring his shock as she wrapped her arms around his torso with an iron grip.

"Stop it! He's the one who saved me!"

The hanyou was staring at her, eyes wide, but she only tightened her arms. "Put your guns up! I mean it!"

They ignored her, and for the second time that day, she pulled rank. "Class D's! Put your guns _**up**_!"

A ripple passed through them and they obeyed immediately. A superior was giving orders. That was good. That was normal. Normality had been in short supply that day, and they clung to it whenever it presented itself.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and dropped her arms. Maybe now she could just go home.

"Class D's, train your guns on that hanyou."

Kagome spun, her eyes falling on a neatly dressed woman standing perfectly straight just in front of the warehouse entrance.

"Captain Ai!"

The woman's cool brown gaze met Kagome's. She smiled thinly when the soldiers obeyed her.

"You may be Class A, Higurashi Kagome, but nonetheless, I still outrank you," she drawled smugly as she began picking her way briskly but carefully towards the frozen schoolgirl. She paused halfway from the door and extended a hand. "You will come with me, now."

Kagome remained where she was. Her rebellious streak had already surfaced today, and she just could not bring herself to obey. From somewhere she had no idea previously had existed within her, she pulled more resolve and strength, desperately willing her legs not to give out on her now. "Why?"

Ai's eyes flashed in anger. "Do not question me," she hissed coldly.

Still Kagome did not move. She knew, somewhere inside her confused and exhausted mind, that she was only cementing her punishment, but she just could not help herself. Or rather, she refused to help this woman. "Why should I go with you?"

The angry scowl on Ai's face promised retribution, but she bit out, "You must begin your training."

Kagome was startled. "Training?"

Ai smiled very unpleasantly, her head tilting to the side patronisingly as her eyes narrowed again. "Yes, training. Your spiritual powers have awoken. You must begin your training."

The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Spiritual powers… that meant… "Wha…What? No!"

Ai's smile vanished, replaced by a hard glare. "You have no choice. You will be implanted with a neural inhibitor microchip tomorrow. Your family will be informed and will not look for you. You _will_ become a Slaver."

A Slaver.

Kagome's shoulders slumped and the strength dissolved from her body. She felt numb, as if she were going to fall down onto the rubble and never get up ever again.

How could she possibly be a Slaver? She knew as well as everyone that they were born, not made. And _she_ had been born as one? Impossible. Fate could not possibly be that cruel. This was the absolute worst fate she could have ever envisioned for herself.

Tomorrow, she would be as good as dead. To her family, she _would_ be dead. The families of Slavers always thought as much.

"But how… how do you know?"

Ai smiled again, just as nastily. "You think that the chaos today was any kind of accident? The doors reacted to your power awakening. _You_ let the youkai out."

The unspoken words rang clear and terrifying in Kagome's mind as the day's happenings slotted into place. _'It's all your fault. You're the reason those people are dead, those youkai are dead. It's all your fault. You killed them.'_ The bodies in the foyer, the courtyard, youkai and human alike.

All her fault.

She sunk down onto her knees, fighting the incredibly strong urge to throw up. Her hands slipped down the fabric of the youth's hastily found clothes, and she lifted her head to stare at Ai again with dull eyes.

"What will happen to him?" she asked in a tiny voice. For some reason, she had to know this hanyou's fate, too. Some morbid fascination with how they would end up, after she had freed him and he had saved her. Maybe they would strap him up again. Maybe they would chip him, too. How ironic would that be?

It struck her suddenly that she did not even know his name.

Ai's lips curved in a small sneer. "The hanyou? He will meet the same fate as any half-breed. He will be eliminated."

Kagome felt the hanyou beside her tense, and her mind made itself up immediately. In some dim, detached part of her mind that had retreated several minutes ago in gibbering terror, she screamed at herself. There _was_ no choice. If the Sphere said that you would become a Slaver, then a Slaver you would become.

There was never any choice.

Nonetheless, she forced herself to her feet. Her leg muscles were trembling and she was light-headed, but she met Ai's gaze with an implacable one of her own.

"No." Her voice was far stronger than she had anticipated, and she began to believe herself. Maybe she _could_ get out of this.

Ai blinked. "What?"

Kagome lifted her chin. "I'm not going with you. I won't become a Slaver." Her mother would have never forgiven her for lying down and taking this. She would make her Mama proud of her, even if she never knew.

Ai's jaw dropped, the slack muscles of her cheek twitching slightly. Regaining her composure almost instantly, she sneered again. "You think you have a choice?"

Kagome never dropped her gaze. "I know I don't. But I won't go without one hell of a fight."

Ai's lips pursed together, then with a splutter she laughed aloud. Her voice was derisive and patronising, and not a small bit disbelieving as she cast Kagome a pitying look. "You absolute idiot. You think that you could possibly put up any sort of struggle? We'll shoot you with a tranquilliser, and you'll wake up with a chip in your head. I'm offering you a chance to make this easier on yourself. I'll even let you call your family. So step away from the hanyou and accept your fate."

Something clicked in Kagome's brain, and her eyes narrowed. A slow smile spread over her face and she shifted closer to the tense hanyou beside her who was positively quivering with restrained energy. "You can't shoot him with me here, can you?" Ai's silence was all the answer she needed and Kagome gained momentum. "You can't risk hitting me, can you? What would your superiors think if you killed a potential Slaver? There aren't that many anymore, and you can't risk me. And you can't shoot with tranquillisers, because they'll just piss him off!"

A growl from the hanyou surprised her, but she just reached a hand out to latch onto his arm without thinking about it. The growl stopped and his muscles tensed further, but he did not move. And Kagome did not let go. He was the only thing that she could trust, here. As unlikely as it seemed.

Ai was furious. Kagome could see that. The woman's composure was melting away, her jaw tense and eyes thunderous. But Kagome knew she had her.

Suddenly, the hanyou beside her launched into the air, ripping his arm out of Kagome's grasp. She fell onto her knees again with a strangled cry, having a terrible feeling that she knew what he was about to do.

Sure enough, he flew through the air towards Ai.

Bullets ripped through the air, but he was far too fast for that. They whizzed over Kagome's head and one ricocheted off her left bicep. The pain shot through her and she gasped, tears stinging her eyes as her arm began to burn. She forced her blurry eyes open, clutching her bleeding arm with her right hand, trying to staunch the flow with the pressure of her palm.

The hanyou had reached Ai, and he was holding her throat with one hand. Her hands scrabbled at his wrists as her face turned blue, her feet kicking above the ground. The gunfire had stopped, none of the soldiers daring to risk hitting Ai as they aimed for the hanyou, but their eyes were still peeled down the sights of their guns. The nearest of them began to run towards their endangered officer.

"Stop or I snap her neck right here," the hanyou growled viciously. The soldier stumbled to a halt, glancing about him uncertainly. Accustomed to taking orders, he had no one to tell him what to do.

The hanyou sneered at the gasping woman in his steel grip. "Tell me why I shouldn't rip you apart now, bitch," he growled, his face angry and eyes dark.

"No!" Kagome screamed, lurching to her feet in the rubble. His head whipped around and their eyes met. Gazes clashing, his glower did not budge an inch as she silently pleaded with him. With a shaky step towards him, she shook her head gently.

"Be better than her."

He met her stare, holding it for a long moment, furious expression unwavering. Ai's movements were getting slower and slower, and Kagome took another step towards them.

"Please. Don't do this."

Whatever reply he had opened his mouth to make was cut off by a crash on the side of the battered warehouse, followed by a rhythmic pounding that shook the ground. A growl began to rumble from the hanyou's chest before he snarled and tossed Ai aside.

She landed awkwardly on a sharp piece of roof sheeting with a hoarse cry, quickly followed by coughing as she tried to reopen her windpipe. The soldiers who had had their guns trained on the hanyou faltered, several of them lowering their weapons, staring wide eyed at the shaking wall.

Suddenly there was a hair-raising screech as the metal began to buckle, then the wall started to fall.

The soldiers began backing away quickly, sighting down the barrels of their guns with eyes trained on the wobbling side of the building. It tilted ominously inwards at the top, the screws in the metal popping, before folding to the ground with a crash.

Kagome jumped backwards as a sheet flew towards her. Her foot caught a piece of roofing and she fell. She threw her left arm out to stop her fall, forgetting about the bullet ricochet. The impact jarred her arm, pain shot up her shoulder before her head connected with the ground and everything went black. 


	3. Interlude 1

**Disclaimer:** InuYasha is not mine, I don't make any money from this.

* * *

Interlude One

* * *

The woman pursed her lips and blew out an irritated sigh at the loud knocking on the door. Honestly, they always came at the worst time. Her children were due back from school soon, and she always liked to have something ready for them after their long day.

She walked to the front door and looked through the peephole, frowning at the pair of official uniforms and briefcase. Sphere soldiers. What could they possibly want?

She opened the door and greeted them with a warm smile. The soldiers did not return it, and she had not expected them to. She sighed. What was society coming to? She worried so for her children's future.

"Mrs Higurashi?" the taller asked, a thin wiry male of his mid-thirties. His lapels told her that he was a Lieutenant, a class B. As she always did with people outside her family, she assumed the perfect role of a superior Class and shot him a hard look.

"Yes. What brings you here?"

The briefcase was lifted and opened, a photo on the top of a pile of documents. Mrs Higurashi squinted, trying to make out the picture without her glasses.

"It's about your daughter, ma'am."

Blood, flesh, bone…

"There was an incident at the Base."

… and the world fell away.


	4. Chapter 3

** Disclaimer:** Still not mine. But soon... . 

* * *

** Slipstream**

* * *

"Kagome?"

The girl winced as the noise made her head throb. _Everything_ hurt. Her arm, hip, belly and most especially her head worst of all. Her skull felt as if it was going to pop like a balloon at the slightest pressure. She groaned when darkness did not immediately swallow her up.

"Kagome, can you hear me?"

The voice was soft, but not soft enough for Kagome's liking, and she winced again as the sound shot through her skull again. It was rough and low, but not unkind, she thought. Probably best to answer. She did _not_ want to think about possibilities for her location at that point. Since she still had control over herself, she assumed that that could only be good.

…Right?

She managed to nod her head slightly with another groan as her neck muscles protested painfully. A cool hand passed over her face with a gentle touch before moving behind her head.

"I'm going to help you sit up, ok?"

Kagome managed one more tiny nod, and another hand grasped her shoulder in a firm grip, before it pulled her up. The other hand supported her head, and although Kagome tried to join in the effort, it was just…too much. She was too sore, too tired, too…everything. It was so much easier to let someone else do it.

A large cushion had been slid underneath her and she relaxed back on it with a sigh. Now to work on opening the eyes.

She accomplished a tiny crack before wincing them shut again. Light was rather painful.

"I'll shut the blinds for you," the voice murmured. A slight shuffling sound, then the rasp of a blind pulley mechanism, then the rustling of material as the person settled back down beside her.

Kagome inched open her eyes, finding the light level far more manageable this time around. Her eyes slid to the owner of the voice, morbidly curious finally about where she had ended up. Where had they placed her to await her…operation? Why had they not done it whilst she was out?

Or…maybe they had, and they had not activated it yet. She could feel a weight on her head, a pressure that she deduced was a bandage. What if this was all a trick?

No. That could not be it. She was not sure why, but she just knew it was not.

She finally forced her head to move enough for her eyes to reach the person sitting by her side. An old, careworn woman knelt serenely on a tatami mat floor. An eye patch covered her right eye, and her face was deeply lined and weathered. It was softened by a smile, however, and Kagome wondered why the hell any Sphere employee was smiling at _her_.

"You are Higurashi Kagome."

_You think?_ "Uh, yes."

The woman's smile deepened slightly, her eyes crinkling and warm even in the dim lighting. She lifted an earthenware bowl off the tatami next to her and proffered it to Kagome. "Here. Take this. It'll help with the pain, trust me."

Instantly Kagome's eyes narrowed. The throbbing was receding, anyway, and no matter how sore she was, she was not just going to let any old biddy poison her. "Trust you? I'm not stupid."

The woman blinked ---or winked--- in surprise. Kagome's anger resurfaced and she scowled, ignoring the pull it made on her scalp. "Listen, I don't know why you didn't chip me while I was unconscious, but you're going to have to get your hands dirty. I'm not doing it for you. And I'm sure not trusting you," she hissed venomously.

The woman stared for a brief moment before breaking into a barking laugh. Kagome winced as the harsh sound bit into her head like a blow.

With another smile, the woman reached forward to pat Kagome's hand. "Oh, child, you silly thing. You think I'm Sphere, don't you?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

The smile widened. "Whether you are or not, which I doubt, Class A, I am not Sphere. Far from it. About as far from it as possible, to be exact."

Okay. Kagome was not following. She was fairly sure that she had been dropped off about a kilometre back in this conversation and was choking on the dust. Her brow wrinkled in a confused frown. "What?"

The woman adjusted her shirt, tugging at the tight collar to try and loosen it just a little. "Don't worry, Kagome, I'm not going to chip you, or punish you, or imprison you, or do anything of the sort. In fact, you're here in order to prevent any of that from happening."

Kagome's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And where exactly is 'here'?"

The woman met her eyes in a direct gaze. "You are on a rebel base just north of Tokyo, outside the barriers and the patrol routes. We mobilised to break into Akiyama as soon as I sensed your power fluctuations. You were knocked out just as we arrived."

Kagome felt like she would pass out again. She blinked several times in rapid succession, filing questions for later and seizing on the relevant points of information. "Rebels?" Her eyes slid up and down the greyed woman again. Stocky, swollen joints, terrible dress sense, only one eye…

"_You're_ a… rebel?"

The woman straightened and tugged her white dress shirt again, looking slightly affronted. "Yes, I am, thankyou, child. Anyway, we brought you in to save you from your rather unpleasant fate. You're welcome, by the way." She lifted the bowl again, pushing in Kagome's direction meaningfully.

Kagome snuggled back down into the cushion and took the bowl, sniffing at it indiscreetly, ignoring the pull on her injured belly. She did not detect any suspicious smells, but that did not necessarily mean anything. But… Sphere would have no reason to pretend to be rebel, so… She took a tentative sip, and decided it was not all that bad.

Not much else to do, anyway, she supposed.

She shot the woman a wry look out of the corner of her eye as she drank another small mouthful. "It might help if I knew who you were."

The smile was back in full force. "How rude of me. I'm Shirokawa Kaede, commander of this base. No formality here, just call me Kaede."

Kagome inclined her head politely, her composure and manners impeccable. "Nice to meet you." She took another drink, deciding she liked the taste of this tonic. With a gulp, she finished it, and breathed somewhat more easily when the aches in her head and body receded to far more bearable levels. She turned her head to Kaede again and smiled ingratiatingly.

"Now, Kaede. Would you mind terribly telling me… _just__what_ _the hell is going on_?!"

Kaede winced as Kagome's voice went up a few octaves. The girl's calm had now completely eroded as recent events sunk in completely, and she was panting quickly, her eyes taking on a slightly wild sheen. The woman reached her hand forward and pressed it to Kagome's forehead, taking the bowl away with the other.

"Calm yourself, for heaven's sake. You have a nasty bump on your head, let's not reopen it, shall we? I'll tell you everything, just calm down!"

Kagome's eyes were rolling as she began to hyperventilate, the oxygen shooting to her brain and making her dizzy. The soothing hand on her head and the voice was getting to her, though, and abruptly she thought of her grandmother, dead for years. That thought led to her grandfather, to the rest of her family.

Oh god.

What was happening to them?

Tears welled up and spilled over instantly, sobs interrupting her heavy breathing. The pain in her head was inconsequential now, as images of Captain Ai storming their Shrine and demanding answers from her mother and brother cascaded through her mind.

Kaede had gathered Kagome into her arms and was rocking gently, stroking the side of Kagome's head and shushing her quietly. Kagome latched her hands into the fabric of the older woman's clothing and howled, the injuries on her body completely forgotten in favour of the ones on her heart.

She did not know much about what was happening, but she did know that nothing was ever going to be the same.

* * *

I can hear her crying.

She's in the room next to mine, I know that from her smell. Not that she smells _good_ or anything.

The old hag is trying to calm her down. Good luck with that. The girl's hysterical, terrified. I can tell _that_ from her scent, too. It positively reeks of fear. And grief.

Honestly, shit like this is just my luck. Here I am, stuck in a room papered with sutras to keep me from moving or killing anyone, listening to a girl I hate sob her heart out.

Yes. I hate her. Don't really know why.

What am I talking about, of course I do. It's that damn face. How can I _not_ hate someone with her face? It's programmed into me.

It pisses me off I just can't get the expression out of my head that was on that face when she asked that Captain bitch what was going to happen to me.

Why the hell did she care?

She's human, I'm not. It's as simple as that. Humans hate me, I hate them. Period. She's stupid if she thinks it happens any other way. The world will drill that into her sooner or later. Idealism is just going to make the process more painful.

It's a dog eat dog world, or at least human eat youkai eat hanyou world.

* * *

Kagome stared at Kaede levelly. She had stopped crying a while ago, and was trying to work up the nerve to ask her questions. There were so many of them, and she needed to know.

She was just terrified of the answers.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, dropping her gaze to her lap. She tentatively touched the bandage on her head, wincing when the wound throbbed.

"How bad is it?" Better to start with simple things, she thought. Work her way up. Prepare herself.

Kaede sighed. "Not too bad. You might have a scar, but your hair will cover that. There are two stitches, but you got away lightly."

Kagome nodded. "How long was I out?"

"About 34 hours."

The girl's jaw dropped. "_What_?!"

"You had a bad fall, and a traumatic experience, plus many other smaller injuries. Your body needed time to recover."

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "And it had no chemical assistance?"

Kaede's face was serene and her tone wry as she replied, "There may have been a small amount."

With a glare Kagome crossed her arms. "I thought so. Well, I'm awake now, and I want answers. A lot of them."

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Are you ready for them?"

"No. But I need them anyway."

The woman nodded slightly. "Wise. Alright. I will answer your questions."

Kagome hesitated, her resolve faltering. She could deny her situation now, in ignorance pretend that she could go back and that this was not the biggest event to ever happen to her. But…once she knew, she would not be able to do that anymore. It would be real. It would really have happened. She was not sure she would be able to deal with it.

All the same…she had to know.

She took a deep breath and averted her eyes again, staring at the wall of her tiny room. "What…what happened, at the Sphere Base?"

"Well, what do you remember?"

"Hey, don't try and get out of this," Kagome protested indignantly. The drink Kaede had given her had revived her considerably, the occasional twinge or throb the only pain she felt.

Kaede rolled her eyes slightly. "I am trying nothing of the sort. You tell me what happened and I will explain it to you. I wasn't there; how can I tell you if I don't know?"

Kagome pursed her lips and frowned, sorting through her scattered and chaotic memories of that day, two days ago, apparently. Her recollection was erratic, as she supposed was only to be expected.

"It was a normal excursion. We go on one every quarter, and every time I hate it. Everything was the same as every time, we were showed the same things, given the same lectures.

"It started being weird in the holding cells. We were in the complex of large and more powerful youkai. The Slaver was there, right next to me, and the youkai were all around me, but I couldn't hear them. At all. I'd seen them on the screens in the security booth, making what looked like a lot of noise. but it was dead silent in the cell block…"

She sighed, looking down at her clasped hands. "It felt so wrong. I just…I remember wishing that it was all different."

She paused, her head throbbing in pain reminiscent of the unbearable ache of that day.

"And then?" Kaede prompted.

Kagome shook her head, her face confused. "I have no idea. Suddenly this pain blindsided me and I fell to the side. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think…it just _hurt_. I just knew I had to get rid of it, it had to stop, and then it…drained out of my body. It didn't stop, it… flowed away. I opened my eyes and everyone was staring at me."

She shook her head. "No…not at me. Behind me."

Kaede was leaning forward slightly. "Go on. What was behind you?"

Kagome face creased further, her eyes moistening slightly. "The…the centipede woman."

Kaede said nothing, but Kagome went on, rushing now, almost unable to stop herself.

"She said I was a Slaver, and I said I wasn't, and she called me a liar, said that only a Slaver could open those doors. She slashed me," Kagome clutched at her stomach, remembering the feeling of those claws ripping through her flesh… "and then I ran.

"All the doors were open. Every single one. I ran into the foyer and… I'd never seen a dead body before… A soldier told me the way out and I ran."

She dashed tears away before hurrying on, her voice rising in pitch and speed.

"Outside was worse. People were dead everywhere, and youkai, too… there was so much fighting, I couldn't see a way to go. I ran down an alley when I heard the centipede behind me, and then I saw a warehouse. The doors wouldn't open at first, and when they did they slid shut behind me so fast…"

She stopped, breathing hard as she relived the moment. The tears running down her face as she heard the centipede youkai's threats and bellows behind her, the terror as the doors resisted her, the relief when she was pitched into the warehouse.

"There was nothing in there. No trucks, no food, no stores of anything. Just… him."

* * *

I don't believe it.

That stupid wench has no idea what she is.

She has no idea what she's done.

She has no idea what's coming.

…Sucks to be her.

* * *

"Him, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head to try and clear it as visions of the hanyou strapped up against the wall assaulted her.

"He was strapped up, wires in him everywhere. It was… horrible. How can people do that to anyone?" Her brimming eyes met Kaede's in confusion. "I just don't get it! I don't get any of it! It doesn't make any sense!"

Kaede touched a hand to Kagome's shoulder. "What happened then?"

Kagome rubbed a hand over her face, trying to put it into words, her voice floundering and confused. "I…I don't know. I saw him hanging there and I felt sick. I wanted to help him. I went towards him, and I just knew that something like that shouldn't be happening to him."

Kaede was leaning forward, her eyes bright. "And then?"

The girl shrugged helplessly. "Then… he woke up. The wires fell off him and he woke up."

Kaede gripped the shoulder her hand rested on with more force, turning Kagome to face her. "Kagome. I need to know something. It is very important. What happened to the Slaver you saw in the containment cells?"

Kagome blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Did you see what happened to him or her? Were they unconscious? Did they fight you, or anyone else?"

Kagome shook her head. "No. I opened my eyes and he was staring at his hands, then he ran off."

Kagome sat back on her heels, her jaw slack and her eyes wide with shock and awe. Her voice was hoarse as she whispered, "Are you sure, child?"

The girl nodded but then her eyes narrowed. "Kaede? Why is that important?" she asked slowly, voice laden with suspicion.

The woman's eye was still slightly blank as she answered quietly, "It means everything, Kagome. Everything."

* * *

"It means everything, Kagome. Everything."

Yeah. No shit, hag.

The girl's scent is flooded with confusion, but irritation is seeping in, now, too.

"What do you mean?"

I can't help but wonder what she'll do when she finds out. I figured it out just before she fell. There was only one way that she could have set me free. Those wards and seals on me were damn powerful, and sensitive, too.

The bitch who made them made very, very sure of that.

The hag is talking again. I can tell she's pretty nervous about this. Well, the most powerful miko in fifty years is sitting right in front of her, emotional and very scared. I would be nervous, too. But then… the wench needs the hag as much as the hag needs the wench. It should be a straightforward barter.

If she wasn't so damn emotional.

"Kagome. You are… different. You have powers, spiritual powers." She pauses, unsure of how to go on.

"The pain you felt in the containment cells was the awakening of your power. It lay dormant until a time of extreme emotional stress and a strong desire to make something happen."

She stops again, and the silence is longer this time.

"So… I _am_ a Slaver… All those people died because I let those youkai out. It's all my fault."

The girl's voice is choked and scared, and I can't help but feel a little sorry for her. Talk about a guilt trip.

I can't wait to hear what the old woman is going to say to that.

"Kagome…you have to understand…your power is raw. You can't control it. It is tapped into your emotions, and that's what triggered the doors. It's not your fault. You mustn't blame yourself---"

"What are you talking about? Not blame myself? It _is_ my fault! I opened those doors, didn't I? I wanted those youkai out! I let them out! People are _dead_ because of me!"

Her voice is high and hysterical, and her scent is awash with guilt and pain. She's taking this really hard.

The fact that they wanted to turn her into a Slaver seems to have slipped her mind at the moment. Funny that.

"No, Kagome, no. It's not your fault. You didn't know what would happen. It's like giving a monkey a gun and then yelling at it when it shoots the trainer."

"_WHAT?!_"

Ouch. Nice metaphor. Very compassionate.

"What I mean is that you didn't understand what was happening. You didn't know what power you held and what it did. You can't be held responsible for what it did. No one blames you."

The girl is crying. Again. I really hate that sound. And that smell. It gets to me. And the fact that it gets to me _really_ gets to me.

"That's not true, Kaede. _I_ blame me. I wanted those youkai free, and then they were. My thoughts became my actions. I was foolish and now people are dead, and those youkai aren't any better off. They're dead or recaptured, and it _is_ my fault. I didn't achieve anything except their deaths."

The hag is getting exasperated, but now she's on more familiar ground. "You're wrong about that. We recovered thirty-eight higher youkai and four Slavers. We counted casualties at forty two lower and one higher youkai, and six humans."

You forgot one hanyou.

"Oh, and one hanyou, of course."

Thanks.

"What…what does that mean?" The girl is just as confused as before, but there is no more tears or guilt.

"It means that we saved more youkai thanks to you in a day than we have over the past year and a half. It means that four spiritually gifted people can have a life without mind control again. And it means that what you did was a good thing."

Yep.

And now you're going to suffer for it, kid.

It's gonna fuckin' _suck_ to be her.

* * *

"And it means that what you did was a good thing."

Kagome sat in stunned silence.

"There's more, Kagome." Kaede's voice was low and urgent, and Kagome grimaced dully.

"I knew it."

"You can't go home."

Kagome's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "What?" In her heart of hearts, she had known that. She had known that her world changed the minute that Ai had told her to go with her, even before that, when the doors had opened. She was different, and that was never a good thing in a Co-Prosperity Sphere-run society. But it was one thing to know it, and another completely to hear it spoken. It became reality that way. She could not pretend anymore.

Kaede went on. "You are a miko. The Sphere uses people like you, with spiritual power, to control the chips in youkai's brains. You would be caught and have a chip of your own in your head moments after you stepped foot in Tokyo. You would become a mindless leash for leashed creatures. Your life, as you knew it, is over."

Tears sprang to Kagome's eyes again, but she had not the heart to sob. Her mother, her brother, her grandfather, her friends…her life.

All gone.

"What's going to happen to me, then?" she whispered as she wrapped her legs around her calves and pressed her face into her knees, making herself as small as possible.

Kaede's face was sympathetic, but her tone uncompromising. "There's more, Kagome," she said again.

Kagome laughed harshly. "What more could there possibly be? I've lost my entire existence as I know it, turned into something I don't understand, and you tell me there's _more_?"

Kaede did not bother with any preliminaries or comforting words. Her voice had a clinical sound as she bluntly stated, "We scanned your brain while you were unconscious, and we found something…that shouldn't be there."

Kagome laughed again, her face still buried in her knees. "Don't tell me. Brain cancer. I'm dying," she muttered bitterly.

"No. We found a microchip."

Kagome's head shot up and her wide eyes fixed on Kaede as her jaw dropped. "A chip? In my brain? Are you sure?" she asked, half incredulously and half disbelievingly.

Kaede nodded.

Kagome floundered, seizing on the only thing she knew. "But… but it's not doing anything!"

Kaede nodded again. "Yes. The chip is currently dormant. However, we have no idea how long it will remain so."

"I…what… how did it get in there? I haven't had an operation in my entire life!"

Kaede's gaze fell to the tatami. "We…we have reason to suspect you were born with it."

"Born with it," Kagome repeated incredulously. "How the hell can someone be born with a _chip_ in their head?"

Kaede looked distinctly uncomfortable, shifting slightly on her knees, ignoring the scrape of the tatami on her linen pants. "It is no ordinary chip. It consists partly of organic matter of some kind, we don't know what, and the electronic components don't seem to be in contact with your brain at all. I would call it a tumour if I didn't know better."

Kagome shook her head in confusion and frustration, her temper coming to the fore once more. "Stop talking in riddles and half-truths, Kaede! How exactly do you know better?" she questioned, her voice like acid.

Kaede sighed and met Kagome's angry gaze. "Very well. I will tell you the whole truth. At least what I know of it."

Kagome nodded curtly. "Thankyou."

"However," Kaede went on, and Kagome's eyes narrowed, "I must insist that this take place later. You are still injured, and I wish to confirm a few things first. I will come to you later."

"No!" Kagome yelled, her face contorting in rage. "How can you say that? You owe me answers, and I want them now! You can't just tell me I have an abnormal growth in my head---"

"A microchip."

"---Whatever! You can't just tell me that and then swan off, leaving me hanging! This is _my_ head we're talking about! I have a _right_ to know!"

Kaede cast her a wry look. "You, who come from a Sphere city, would talk to me of rights?"

Kagome flushed, but her fury never wavered. "You, old woman, are doing an impressive imitation of Sphere control on your own."

Kaede stood slowly, shakily, her joints creaking, and fixed Kagome with a stern stare. "That's quite enough, child. You're here, now, and _I_ am in charge. You are not well, not yet, and I refuse to put you under unnecessary stress whilst you are in this condition."

"_Unnecessary stress_?! What do you call everything you've just told me and then leaving me to _dwell_?!" Kagome shrieked, but Kaede had reached the door.

"Try and get some more rest, child," she said, smiling, before shutting the door behind her. Kagome heard the distinct click of a lock snicking into place. Her mouth opened and closed like a guppy as her anger rampaged around inside her with nowhere to go. She grabbed the empty bowl beside her and threw it at the closed door with a furious and frustrated squeal.

It shattered, and Kagome stared.

What was wrong with her? She did not throw things. She was… a good girl.

Kaede was going to be angry at her.

She really, _really_ wanted to see her mother.

Then, again, she began to cry.

* * *

I pace from one side of my "room" ---read as "cell"--- and for one of the few times in my life I'm deep in thought. I'm more of an action kind of guy, but this situation needs more.

A lot more.

The oh-shit-how-am-I-going-to-do-this-without-a-lot-of-guns-and-money kinda more. Especially since I have _no_ guns and _no_ money. I don't even have any _clothes_ that are really mine. I'm still in those ridiculous red things I found in the warehouse. Looks like they're left over from a fancy dress party… Bitch Kaede… She seems to think that they're some kind of experimental military fabric.

Normally I wouldn't even think about that kinda stuff. Guns, I mean, not fancy dress parties or Kaede. I don't need guns to be dangerous. But nothing I'd ever thought about doing was as huge as this.

Claws ain't gonna cut it this time.

The girl next door who's crying ---again! Fuck! Doesn't she get dehydrated?--- is the reason I'm thinking about AK 47's and how to procure them right now. I have to get her. I have to get her away from here, but they're hardly going to let us walk out hand in hand with a parting kiss and a packed lunch. I can't get out of this _room_ at the moment.

And they _really_ won't want to let her go.

For one thing, this is the most heavily armed Heiwa rebel base outside Shikoku. I don't even have to ask to know which branch of rebels this is. Considering that the girl is alive, and so am I. I wonder if that's occurred to her? Should have. Her interrogator was human, after all.

No, focus! Focus on getting out of a room more secure than any prison, getting the _girl_ out as well, then breaking out of a base with more firepower than a nuclear sub convoy. Maybe if I tunnel…or…I knock the serving boy out when he comes to feed me…

A knock on the door interrupts my devious plotting. Honestly, why bother with a formality like that? Any protest I make isn't gonna stop 'em coming in. I grunt, taking up a defensive position cross-legged on the floor opposite the door.

The door opens and a wizened face half covered by an eye-patch peeks round. Great. The hag. Just my luck. If _she's_ here, it means she wants to talk. Otherwise, she would have sent a lackey to feed the prisoner. Of course, I'm not _called_ that. Politically incorrect for pro-equality rebels to hold a youkai prisoner. Even a half-breed like me, no matter how much both species despise me.

She steps inside and kicks the door shut behind her, balancing a tray and a bottle of something. Why she can't put the bottle _on_ the tray I don't know. Stupid old woman.

She slowly leans over to place it on the tatami floor, her back creaking hideously. I, being the rude and disgruntled prisoner I am, make no move to help her and she glares at me out of the corner of her eye as she lowers herself to the ground. Subtly, or not so subtly, I brush a thumb over the sutra on my chest, the one that stops me making any sudden movements. Or was supposed to, before I managed to peel it off with my claws. It's lost its power, now.

She ignores my accusing look. "You know, InuYasha, your surliness really doesn't fool me. You could give it up."

I scoff, crossing my eyes and glaring right back. "What are you talking about, crone? There _is_ a reason you have no eye."

She meets my gaze very coolly. Damn it, I hate it when people do that.

"Yes, InuYasha, and I am very aware of that reason. You, however, are not."

Huh wha?

"Keh."

With a slightly exasperated roll of her eyes, she pushes the tray towards me. I ignore it, even though I know there's no way she'd poison me. Morals and all that shit. She's really in the wrong job for morals.

She settles back, making herself as comfortable as she can in that rickety body, and takes a deep breath. "InuYasha. You have been held in suspension for fifty years---"

"Yeah, you told me yesterday," I interrupt.

"Let me finish!" she snaps. Another deep breath. "You have been held in suspension for fifty years, and in that time, I have had a lot of time to ponder your…situation."

"Meaning?" Humour the dumb hanyou.

"I realise many things that were unclear to both you, and my sister."

My head snaps up at that from my indifferent contemplation of the floor. I didn't think she'd actually have the guts to mention… She gazes at me with compassion in her eyes. I hate compassion, so my hackles go up.

"What are you talking about, you old geezer?" I snarl, baring my fangs, but being in the company of youkai every day, she's not impressed.

She sighs patiently. "InuYasha, I'm only sixty three. That's not that old."

"So? You _look_ ancient."

Another sigh, but now she's pissed off. Excellent. "InuYasha, as tactful as always."

My brow creases, pissed off, too. "Why do you keep saying my name?"

Her lips purse thoughtfully and she shrugs. "I haven't heard it in so long…trying to make up for it, I guess."

Like she didn't curse my name more than a couple times.

She shakes her head like her ears are ringing, before glaring at me again. "Now, listen, and don't interrupt."

I roll my eyes as insolently as I possibly can, which is pretty insolently. She ignores it, though. When did my annoying traits stop affecting her?

I mean I haven't seen her since she was a kid.

"Now, InuYasha, I know you have some fairly ingrained ideas about what happened fifty years ago---"

"I was _there_, bitch! I _know_ what happened!" How dare she?

"Shut up! You don't know _why_. But I do."

Well, that actually _does_ shut me up. Whoa.

She goes on. "I know it was a long process, sealing you, and the only thing stopping you from tearing my throat out now is the wards I have on you, and even some lingering compassion in that bitter heart of yours."

Thanks so much, Kaede. So trusting.

"But believe me, InuYasha, I am not going to seal you again, or kill you, or keep you locked up here forever. I simply want to talk to you."

Fate worse than death. If I believed her.

"I also remember how good your hearing is, and I know you must have heard me talking to Kagome this morning."

Oh shit.

Wait.

She must have known that before…so…she engineered that?!

"Why the hell would you want me _hearing_ that? I'm just going to take her now, you do realise that, right?"

A smug smile filters over her lined face. "No, InuYasha. She's going to take _you_."

* * *

That…_bitch_!

I have no words in my _extremely_ colourful vocabulary to describe the…the…the… _evilness_ of that old hag.

I have no words. That's never happened before.

Well… once, but never mind about that.

I tug again at the _thing_ around my neck, and I get another nice little pulse of spiritual energy shooting up my arm. The growl that has not let up since she _attacked_ me just gets louder, rumbling out of my chest viciously.

"What. The fuck. Have you done?" I yell, almost ready to risk the purification and rip the sutras off my chest so I can get my claws around that saggy old neck.

Kaede is calm, composed, sitting cross-legged in front of me with the serenity of fucking Buddha on her wrinkly face.

"This, InuYasha, is my insurance. This is to make sure that my prize, my secret weapon and the very thing I have been praying for since the death of my sister does not fall prey to the likes of yourself."

I snarl, really meaning it this time. "You gonna shove one of these on every damn youkai that tries to attack her?"

She smiles. "No, InuYasha, you are going to protect her from them."

"_WHAT_?! Like hell I will!"

Her smile disappears, replaced by the look I have come to recognise as her business face. "InuYasha. You know as well as I do that Kagome is vital. She is also fragile. I don't have the resources nor the know-how to remove that thing from her head. But she cannot, _cannot_ fall into Sphere hands. Kagome is the single most important person in the world right now. You know just what potential is in that brain."

"Yeah, and I want it!"

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Please. What are you going to do, kill her and claw her skull open? That microchip is partly organic! It would die, too. Not to mention the fact that you wouldn't be able to activate it."

My ears perk up. I've known a lot of liars in my time, and Kaede isn't one of them, no matter what my personal feelings on the subject might be. "Say what?"

My stupidity appears to astound her. "InuYasha, you did not spend all that time with Kikyou and not learn something about the burden she carried."

The name sends a jolt down my spine and automatically my eyes narrow, my ears flatten and I get angry. Angry is easier than anything else. Especially when all I want to do when I hear that name is cry.

"What the fuck are you talking about, you stupid old bitch? You were a fucking kid! You have no idea what happened!"

She sighs and looks down. "I was a child, yes. But she was my sister, and I was close to her." She looks up and her face is sad. "Don't think that you and she were the only ones who suffered through what happened. I lost an eye, you both lost your lives, but so did many on that Base. No!" She holds up a hand when I open my mouth.

Grumbling, I shut up.

"I hated you. For a long time. But it's time for you to know why I don't any longer."

I don't think I wanna hear this. Since I woke up, I've been avoiding thinking about what happened before…but she's gonna make me.

She notices me start to fidget and fixes me with a glare. "Stay. You need to know this." She smooths her hands over her thighs. The rough skin catches on the material of her pants with a scratching sound, and it grates on me.

I grind my teeth and start to growl at her. Just like all my other threatening actions, she ignores it.

She takes a deep breath and stares at me. She knows this is gonna be hard. As much as I hate to admit it, she knows me probably better than anyone else at this point.

She drops her gaze and begins. "Kikyou was my only sister. She was taken away for training when she was eight, and things were hard from then on. The Sphere wasn't as strong then as it is now, and my parents weren't from the same class as each other. In fact, they _had_ no class. Soon after Kikyo left, they had to take the aptitude tests, and my father was deemed Class B while my mother was class C."

My claws are digging into my palm, but I can't bring myself to care.

Shit. This is gonna be _really_ hard. How can I hear someone talk about Kikyou and just…be normal? The bitch betrayed me!

"They took my mother away after Kikyou, and then my father wasn't the same. He jumped off a bridge after a few months. I went to live in an orphanage, but when I was seven, a woman came. She said that my sister had said that I had power, too, and that I was being taken to Akiyama Base for testing."

Kaede swallows and turns her face sharply to the wall, and her voice is hoarse when she speaks. "I hadn't seen her since I was four, but she was still my sister. She didn't smile as much, and hardly talked, but she was my sister. The only family I had left." She smiles slightly and her voice gains strength. "I remember the day I was tested. You and I both know that I am not the most powerful of miko, and in those days, there were enough gifted people that I might have been overlooked. So Kikyou helped me.

"She had enough power to light a city, so she fed it to me during the testing. It was erratic, but they just took it to mean that I was young and untrained."

She shakes her head and stares at the floor again. "That was the only way I could stay with her. She took over the job of training me soon after that, because she was just so talented and powerful. She was only twelve when she was fully fledged and the most powerful miko alive."

I'm breathing hard, raggedly, as my claws shred my palms. This is so. Damn. Hard. I don't wanna hear this from someone else's perspective, I'm happy with mine! I close my eyes and wish to hell that there was no fucking sutra on my chest, and then I wouldn't have to sit there and take it.

Shouting and insults wouldn't stop Kaede. All I can do is try and ignore her.

Yeah. That's gonna happen.

"It was when she was fourteen that the last Protector died. One day, during my so-called training, she was called away. When she came back, she had it."

There's no question just what it is she's talking about. The most powerful microchip ever created. One of a kind, irreplaceable and indestructible, imbued with the soul of a rebel miko and the youkai partner that betrayed her. The chip with the ability to alter the genetic makeup of the person who uses it. Codenamed the Shikon Jewel.

"It was…so small, and I remember thinking it was so boring, that she had to spend so much time protecting it. It was just a lump of silicone and wiring, after all." She shakes her head, a rueful smile on her face.

"I was so young. So was she. The first time that she talked about breaking free, getting out of the Base, I laughed. We couldn't go. That was where we lived. Simple as that. But I was only twelve, she was sixteen. She could see and understand what was wrong, and she knew that we had to get out of there."

She turns her one-eyed gaze on me, and the guilt hits me again. If not for me, she'd still have that eye.

"It was only a matter of time until she tried something. And then…you came along."

Oh yes. So I did.

I don't need her help to remember it. The first time I saw her. How I hated her. Of course, at that time I would have hated anyone I saw. I was bound, beaten, and sentenced to execution on the crime of existing as a hanyou. The one form of youkai that they can't control through microchips due to that pesky human side we have interfering with the chip and the spiritual control on our youki by the Slavers. Human chips don't work, either, with the youki overriding it. They've yet to engineer a chip that harnesses both side of us.

With hanyou, the only answer they have is to eliminate us.

They were dragging me, kicking and biting and growling and swearing no matter how much they hurt me, through the central parade grounds of the Base when I saw her. I saw a Slaver uniform and my mind went haywire. I threw off my guards and attacked.

She hardly reacted at all, just stared at me with those cool brown eyes as I leapt towards her, claws extended and fangs bared. Stared at me, threw up a barrier and watched expressionlessly as I crashed to my ass on the dirt.

She lifted a hand to the soldiers and they stopped. Still staring at me, she smiled very slightly. "Leave him to me. I wish to investigate him further."

They didn't want to agree, but when Kikyou said something, you damn well did it or you got roasted, and they knew that. She was terrifying, at just 17.

Fuck… she was so young.

Anyway, they hoisted me up and dragged me to her building, the place she worked and lived. Her warehouse.

And thus began my career as Kikyou's lab-rat. Not that she ever prodded me with instruments or injected suspicious substances into me.

She just watched me.

All the time.

I suppose I intrigued her, and why wouldn't I. There I was, the only example of any sort of youkai that she was going to be able to see in its natural (ish) state. The rest were all chipped or imprisoned, waiting to be chipped.

Or dead.

So she watched me. As I did everything. As I ate, drank, slept, glared (there was a lot of that) and anything else I decided to do.

Of course, there were a few conflicts to start with. I wanted out, really badly, and she didn't want me to go. The first few times I tried to escape, she just put up a barrier and left it up until I'd calmed down. But then I started to get sneaky, and try it when she was asleep. That pissed her off, so she got sneaky, too. Barriers that gave me a nasty kick, spiritual booby traps, tripwires in mid air, whistles in supersonic pitch to have me rolling around on the floor in pain… she got pretty inventive.

But between all of that, things happened. I was so damn lonely, had been my entire life, and she was the only person who'd ever, _ever_ talked to me without insults or threats. My mother didn't count.

And of course she was beautiful, as well.

That helped.

And every once in a while she'd smile at me. On those days, nothing could bring me down.

I'd figured out just what she was guarding fairly early on in the piece, and tried to steal it a couple times. Unsuccessfully, obviously. It was a legend in youkai circles, the Shikon Jewel, the weapon that would let any youkai defeat the Sphere forces coming to catch you. It could change what you were, make you so much stronger…

And I really, _really_ wanted to be stronger.

There are a lot of reasons behind that, but this trip down memory lane is hard enough. I don't wanna make it a parade down the highway of childhood trauma.

I tune in to Kaede, who is catching up to where my memories have brought me. "Then, of course, she began to think of you differently. Not the interesting anomaly, but InuYasha, the hanyou, the being. And she figured out that although everyone assumed that the Shikon Jewel would be used to make one stronger, it could also…go the other way."

I growl, interrupting her with a snarled, "I remember. She wanted to use it to make me human."

"Yes. She knew that with the spiritual powers imbued in the Shikon Jewel as well as the technology, it would remove not only your bodily traits but also your youki."

This is getting to me. I thought I could handle it…I was wrong.

"Yeah, I _know_, you stupid old woman, I was there, you do realise. The bitch betrayed me, alright, I don't really feel the need to dissect her damn motives! She was human, I'm not, I get it, ok? I don't wanna think about her. So can you shut the fuck up already?"

Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. "She's dead, InuYasha."

I know. I've always kinda known. I'd seen the blood on her clothes and on the warehouse floor before she'd finally sealed me into the void. But still, hearing it spoken so bluntly like that hits me like a sucker punch. I can't breathe. I hit the floor with a thump. I stare into nothingness. That woman… I love her almost as much as I hate her. Even now.

"She went just after you were sealed. I don't think she wanted to live anymore, even if she hadn't been so badly wounded. Why do you think I had to find out what happened?"

* * *

Kagome groaned and moved her head a fraction, sleep slipping away from her no matter how she tried to clutch at it. Finally giving up trying with a noisy sigh, she blinked and pushed herself off the floor, glancing at the blinds to see what time it was, roughly. The window was dark, the same as the room, so it was after sunset sometime.

The drink Kaede had given her was starting to wear off, and her head was throbbing again. Wincing at the sensation of elephants in a conga line dancing around her skull, she rubbed at the pressure mark the tatami floor had left on her cheek.

A heavy thud on the wall made her jump. Shouting voices from the room next door filtered through, and Kagome could not help herself. She was a natural born eavesdropper. Scooting over, she pressed an ear to the thin wall.

"I mean, fuck! You just come in here and expect me to believe all the shit you're throwing at me? I was there, and I know you were, too, but you were thirteen! A kid!"

Kagome frowned. Who was that? That voice was familiar, but she could not place it.

"I know, InuYasha, but I have spent my life trying to understand what happened between you and my sister. I wanted to know why you would betray her---"

"_I DIDN'T_!"

"Yes, I understand that. Now. But then… neither of us did. Kikyou sealed you because she thought you were planning to steal the Jewel for yourself."

"She was never going to give it to me! She had called the extermination crew to come and get me!"

"And there, InuYasha, lies the key."

* * *

"And there, InuYasha, lies the key."

I glare at her. "What the fuck do you mean by that?"

She gives me an appraising stare with that one eye. "Are you ready to listen to me without destroying any more furniture?"

I scoff and roll my eyes, conveniently ignoring the table that lies in splinters next to the wall. A scent catches my notice.

"The wench is awake."

Kaede glances at me. "What?"

I plop down on the floor in front of her, cross-legged, shoving my hands into the huge sleeves of this weird red jacket. With a jerk of the head towards the room that that girl is in, I drawl, "She's awake. Eavesdropping."

My ears swivel at the yelp from the room next door, and I smirk. Yep. Definitely eavesdropping.

Kaede tuts exasperatedly. "Fine. You'll just have to wait."

Oh hell no. "What the hell, old woman? Come on, she's just a little human bitch."

The scent through the wall floods with anger. Hmm. This could be fun. I raise my voice just that little bit more. "She's weak, too. Couldn't even take down a low level youkai."

Oh yeah, she's furious, now. A muffled "What?" filters through the wall, followed by a frustrated growl. A silly grin crawls onto my face before I can help it. Damn but she smells good when she's pissed off.

Wait. What?!

I shake my head, angry at myself. I'm getting sidetracked. She's my ticket to unbelievable power, and that's it. Nothing else… despite that damn face.

The image of her staring at me in awe, the instant after I had killed that centipede youkai, blindsides me. Her scent, petrified but determined, her blue eyes softened by tears, the relief I could see in those eyes before I snarled at her and she'd scrambled away from me.

No! Stop it, you idiot.

Kaede is standing at the door, staring at me oddly. She shakes her head and turns to go.

"What are you doing, hag?"

She sighs long-sufferingly. "My patient is awake. I must tend to her."

Bullshit! "You owe me answers!"

She swivels her head and stares at me with one beady eye. "I owe you _nothing_, InuYasha. I'll explain more fully when Kagome is settled again."

And she leaves, slamming the door shut, the lock sliding into place and a few slap rattling the wood as she pressed some more sutras on. As if I'm not already contained enough.

* * *

Kagome glanced around frantically, ignoring the pains that shot up her neck into her brain. She needed a position of nonchalance, a place from which to perfectly glance up with sleepy surprise as Kaede entered her room, displaying irrefutably the fact that she had not been eavesdropping.

Even though she had. Because that was _entirely_ beside the point.

As the lock on her door began to turn, she desperately flung herself down on her futon, biting her lip to keep from crying out as the movement pulled agonisingly on the slashes on her belly. She flung the covers over herself, buried her head in her forearms and relaxed as the doorknob turned.

"Give it up, Kagome."

_Damn_.

Still ignorance might work. She languidly sat up and smiled sleepily at the base commander. "What? Oh, hello, Kaede."

The worn woman rolled her eye. "Oh please, InuYasha's ears and nose don't lie. I know you were listening."

Kagome's curiosity got the better of her and overruled her desire to protest her innocence. "Was that the man in the next room who you were fighting with?"

Kaede raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change of tune, but decided not to comment. "Yes, if you must know."

Kagome frowned, that voice still nagging at her memory. "Who is he?"

Kaede blinked. "What?"

Kagome was chewing her lower lip thoughtfully, staring blankly at the tatami mat as she drew her arms around herself. Her voice was quiet as she replied, "Who is he? He sounds so… lonely."

The young woman didn't see Kaede's jaw drop slightly at her assessment of the grumpy hanyou next door. She shook herself out of her daze, her gaze moving to Kaede. "He sounds familiar, but so sad."

Kaede began the arduous process of kneeling on her arthritic knees. "Why would you say that, Kagome?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, really. But as he was yelling, he wasn't really _angry_… just hurt, I think."

Kaede shook her head slightly in amazement, before shifting on her knees and fixing Kagome with a serious look. "InuYasha is the hanyou you freed in the warehouse."

Kagome gasped. "Really? Is he ok? Did Ai hurt him?"

"Yes, yes, child, he's fine. In fact, you must meet him in a little while."

Kagome frowned. "But we've already met."

The older woman smiled. "Not officially. But I think you're going to be seeing a lot more of each other soon enough."

Kagome smiled and opened her mouth to reply…

…and the pain in her head exploded.

She screamed and toppled forward, clutching her skull as the pain spread. This was different than before. It was not pressure building painfully in her skull, rather the back portion of her brain was afire with stabbing agony.

As she writhed on the tatami, she realised something that almost made her freeze.

Oh God.

The chip.

She began to sob, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes in fear as much as pain. What if this was the chip awakening? What would happen? Oh God… oh God…

Another burning wave tore through her head and she screamed again, her breathing quickening and deepening as the combination of terror and pain set her hyperventilating.

Voices broke through in the background, frantic as she, and she felt a hand on her forehead before the darkness crashed over her.

* * *


	5. Chapter 4

** Ebb and Flow**

* * *

The light lanced through her eyelids and shot straight to the throbbing ache in her head.

Ha. Déjà vu.

Kagome gave a tiny whimper as the pain persisted. She did not panic; this was so markedly different from the fiery anguish she had been in before.

Speaking of which, what the hell had happened?

Even thinking hurt, and she moaned slightly louder. An answering hand touched her face, something hard and cool bumping against her lips.

"Here, drink this."

Kaede. With a relieved sigh, Kagome opened her lips and let the liquid dribble down her throat slowly enough to not choke her. Almost instantly she felt warmth flow through her body and the ache in her head ease. She cracked open an eye to see where she was.

The light was bright and shapes shone glary for a moment before her vision adjusted. She was in a bed, a proper, soft bed with cotton blankets and cheap squeaky sheets, metal bars on either side of her body. She could feel bandage material holding her hair in, and winced slightly as her eyes opened fully. Bleeping lights, readout monitors and a bag of clear fluid, leading into a plastic tube that ended at her hand…a drip.

She was in a hospital, obviously.

Kagome groaned again, only slightly out of pain this time, and turned her head towards Kaede, who was sitting by her bed in a chair, face serious.

"What happened, Kaede?" Kagome whispered hoarsely. She was surprised at just how much she had come to trust this woman in the short time she had known her. But then… what else could she do? Kaede was all she knew, now.

Pushing that very unpleasant though away, she opened both eyes slightly wider, staring at the weathered woman sitting solemnly by her hospital bedside.

Finally, Kaede sighed and leaned forward, her hands clasped and elbows on her knees. Her expression was grave, brow furrowed and lips pursed slightly. Kagome shifted on the bed in order to look into the woman's eye fully, her strength returning and with it, her resolve to find out what was happening to her.

Something was not right.

Kaede would not meet her eyes, staring instead at the green woven cotton blanket that Kagome's hands were fisted in. She sighed again, ducking her head completely.

"What happened, Kaede?" Kagome demanded again, more forcefully, and with no small amount of fear. What the hell was wrong?

Kaede lifted her head, her brown eye finally staring into Kagome's own blue pair.

"We're… we're not entirely sure, child."

Kagome frowned. "What do you mean?" Her voice was small and frightened, and that fear was not helped when Kaede shrugged helplessly.

"Exactly that. We don't know what happened to you, exactly…"

Kagome seized on the crumb she had been thrown. "Not _exactly_… so what _do_ you know?"

Kaede winced, clearly hoping that Kagome had not caught that. "Well…"

"Kaede!" she barked, vaguely surprised at the jolt Kaede gave to the command. This was her head, damnit!

"The chip dissolved. Sort of."

…What? Kagome blinked and sank back against the pillow and the softness of the hospital bed. Her grip on the blanket drew even tighter, her knuckles white under the strain.

"And what does that mean?"

Kaede sighed and leant back, her face grim and drawn. "Well, that's the part we don't know."

Kagome whipped her head around, regretting it instantly as her head protested strongly. Ignoring the throbbing, she glared at the older woman.

"Surely you must have some ideas?"

Kaede grunted. "Yes, but nothing more than speculation."

"Such as?"

The older woman scowled even deeper. "Kagome, our theories range from the ridiculous to the impossible. Quite simply…we have _no_ idea."

Kagome sighed, dropping her gaze and accepting that was the only answer she could get at the moment. She fidgeted with the green blanket, finding a loose thread in the weave and pulling it absently, unravelling a small patch. With a cursory glance around the room, she drew in a breath to sigh again…

…and stopped.

"Where is everyone?"

It was the wrong thing to ask, she realised, as Kaede tensed and shot her a sharp glance. Kagome dropped her gaze with a slight cringe, her conditioned response to authority kicking in for the first time since coming to the rebel base. Kaede gaze softened somewhat, and she reached a leathery hand out to grasp Kagome's on the blanket with a tiny but kind smile.

"Don't worry, child. I simply don't want you bothered at this moment."

Kagome smiled back, feeling a swell of gratitude for this odd woman. Where would she be if not for Kaede? Probably already chipped and zombi-fied. Such a short time had passed, but Kagome felt that she knew this woman, that she could trust her, and that Kaede would protect her like a grandmother.

Her smile widened and she gripped Kaede's hand hard in her own. "Thank you, Kaede."

Her one eye widened in surprise. "Whatever for?"

Kagome gave a laugh, the grin lighting up her face. "For saving me. I owe you everything and I don't have anything to give you."

Kaede smiled and squeezed back. "Kagome, it truly is nothing. It is worth it to have you here." Kagome thought for an instant she saw a shadow of something in Kaede's eye, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

The tender moment was suddenly interrupted by the hiss of a speaker. A distorted voice crackled through the air, urgent and slightly panicked. "Commander Shirokawa! Calling Commander Shirokawa to the control tower! All personnel to emergency stations, incoming hostiles. Set Condition Red throughout the Base. Repeat, all personnel to emergency stations, the base is under attack."

* * *

Kagome jumped as another impact rocked the building. Kaede had left her scant minutes before, leaving strict orders for her to stay put. That was getting increasingly more difficult as blasts and screams from outside grew louder and more frequent.

Something else hit the side of the medical centre, the force sending her bed flying. Kagome screamed, gripping the blanket with all her strength as she fell out of the bed with a thud. As instruments and machines crashed to the floor beside her, electrics sparking and glass shattering, she knew that she could not stay.

Grabbing the cord of her drip with her other hand, she closed her eyes and braced herself before ripping the needle out. Blood spurted from the roughly opened hole, and Kagome grabbed a bandage from a nearby tray and wrapped it around her hand hastily. Tying a knot as best she could with only one hand, she stood up, swaying slightly as the blood rushed to her head, her headache nearly overwhelming her once more.

Which way had Kaede gone? The overturned bed and toppled heart monitor blocked the obvious exit that she could see, and Kagome knew that she did not have nearly enough strength to move them out of the way.

She turned the other way, picking a path through the debris, praying that another impact would not come until she was away from so many sharp objects. She was still dressed in her school uniform, although barefoot, and absently she wondered why they had not changed her into a hospital gown. Her uniform was filthy, covered in dust and blood, the cream shirt hardly recognisable and the short sailor skirt frayed at the hem.

She scrambled over an upturned machine of some sort, scratching the skin on her shin but ignoring it. The small ward she was in opened into a corridor on that side, and was blessedly rubble-free. Natural light was streaming through an open door at the far end of the hall, and Kagome broke into a jog to reach it. She pushed through the doors with all her strength, stumbling into the light of day.

Outside was like nothing she had ever seen.

The first thing she noticed was the sky. An enormous coruscating dome of shimmering green stretched over the base, flickering and wavering every few seconds as it was battered. Kagome gasped at the creatures assaulting the dome: youkai of every imaginable shape, size and combination floated in the air. Clusters of nothing but eyeballs, snakes, dragons, bats, eagles, humanoid creatures with wings, ogres, heads with streaming tails.

But they had one thing in common; they were all intent on getting that dome down, through any means possible.

"It must be the barrier…" Kagome breathed to herself. She had never seen one that close before; the barriers at the Sphere Bases had been visible but she had never paid attention to them, and those that covered Tokyo from side to side and separated the different Class sectors from one another was too high to be seen from the ground.

It was an incredible and somehow beautiful sight, and Kagome was mesmerised. So enthralled, in fact, that when a portion of the barrier failed and a fireball blasted towards her, she did not notice.

"Watch out!"

Someone barrelled into her side, knocking them both to the ground with a grunt. The fireball hit the medical centre behind them, and it exploded with a blast that blew over their prone bodies. The heat could be felt even from their position. Kagome gulped; just as well she was out of there.

She turned her stiff neck to her saviour, who lay groaning lightly on the ground with her, limbs still entangled. Her jaw dropped as she did a double take.

"Hojo?"

The boy lifted his head and met her shocked gaze with a smile. "Higurashi."

She gaped in reply. Shaking her head, she scrambled to her feet, wincing as her bare feet met something sharp on the ground but ignoring it, and brushed the dirt from the compound off of her behind as best she could, before extending her hand to help him up. "What are you doing here?"

He winced, before glancing around them apprehensively. "I'll explain later. Right now, we have to get inside."

She cast a wary eye over the blazing medical centre. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

He had not let go of her hand and tugged her behind him as he moved towards a large, tapering tower in the middle of the complex of small, hut-like buildings, some afire like the medical centre, some already rubble, some completely untouched. She stumbled along behind him, too surprised to protest even as her feet took a battering. "The command centre is this way. They sent me to get you."

Kagome shoot her head, completely confused. "But Hojo---"

He turned and interrupted her with a brilliant smile. "Isn't this exciting, Higurashi?"

She blinked. "What?!"

He just grinned wider. "I never would have dreamed of doing anything like this. It's so amazing."

Kagome did not reply, severely doubting his intelligence then. Even as a Class A. How could he possibly find this situation in any way good?

A ring of fatigue-clad soldiers stood warily around the base of the command tower, semi-automatic rifles held in tight grips, jaws set and eyes hard. Hojo jerked his head towards Kagome and one nodded, stepping aside from the double doors.

She was _so_ confused.

The ground level of the tower was bustling with activity, fatigue- and plain-clothed people rushing about the floor with business-like expressions and grim determination. There were no panicked faces, but the level of noise was cacophonic as orders flew from side to side of the building. The floor was carpeted, and Kagome was thankful for that, from the bottom of her smarting feet.

Hojo still did not let go of Kagome's hand, dragging her through the crowds towards the stairs at the back. Her protests were ignored or unheard, and Kagome was helpless as he pulled her relentlessly behind him.

She just managed to keep up with him bounding up the stairs, almost tripping a few times but catching herself. He seemed completely focused on his destination as they circled round and round, further and further up. The people they passed on the stairs were totally absorbed in their own tasks, in the disaster at hand, and paid them no heed.

Finally, just as Kagome though her legs would give out, the stairs ended and Hojo pushed through a heavy metal door. She blinked at the bright light suddenly bathing her, used to the dull flickering white light of the stairwell, and yanked her hand back at last, rubbing absently at the pressure mark he had left on her wrist.

"What the hell was that about, Hojo?"

He did not reply, facing forward and snapping a ---rather sloppy--- salute. "Higurashi Kagome as requested," he barked.

Kagome scowled; requested? Humph. She froze when her eyes adjusted, finally making out the shape framed against the wide bays windows. It was Kaede, crisply dressed in her thick uniform, surveying the chaos that was befalling her domain.

She stepped forward as briskly as she could and gently grasped Kagome's upper arm. "Thank you, Hideaki. You can go now."

Hojo looked slightly lost. "But… I…"

"Thanks so much for your help. I'm sure you're needed downstairs," Kaede urged, slightly more pointedly this time.

Reluctantly, he nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He glanced towards Kagome. "Higurashi…" But Kaede was already pulling her forward.

She led her towards the windows of the tower's top floor. The vantage was brilliant, and Kagome could see the entire base, the huddling rows of identical huts, the clusters of tense soldiers, the scraps of youkai corpses.

"Kagome." Kaede's voice was firm as she let go of Kagome's arm. Dragging her eyes away from the partly horrifying, partly awe-inspiring sight, Kagome took a deep breath.

She had a bad feeling about this.

"What's happening out there?" she asked, a jerk of her head indicating the window.

Kaede sighed, closing her eye for a moment. When she replied, her voice was rough and tense. "That's why you're here now."

Kagome's lifted eyebrow was met with no response. A rough hand lifted to grip Kagome's shoulder firmly. Kaede went on, her gaze meeting Kagome's wide eyes. "I had hoped to have more time to break and explain this to you, but they moved far faster than I had anticipated in even my worst case scenarios. Not to mention your sudden seizure.

"But, as they say, best laid plans of mice and men… and miko." The joke fell flat, and Kagome's face remained blank, if a little confused. "And so, I have very little time to lay the situation and the plan before you, Kagome."

She faced Kagome fully, gripping both her shoulders with an almost painful strength. "You are no ordinary girl, Kagome. You are the reincarnation of my late sister, Kikyou, the most powerful miko of her generation, and the thing in your head is none other than the legendary Shikon Jewel, the microchip created by the rebel priestess Midoriko in desperation after the rise of the Sphere."

Kagome blinked.

Kaede stared with earnest intensity.

Kagome cracked up laughing.

"Oh, please!" she gasped between uproarious cackling, her breath coming faster and faster.

Kaede's jaw dropped. Obviously that was _not_ the reaction she had been expecting.

"Kagome! This is very serious!"

Kagome merely guffawed anew. "I mean, come on, how ridiculous can you get, old lady? What next? No, don't tell me, I have to go on a quest to save the world or something."

Kaede nodded gravely. "Something like that, I guess."

Kagome swallowed her laughter with a choking noise. "Uhh…"

Kaede renewed her grip on Kagome's shoulders. "That thing inside your head holds the key to this entire war between the Sphere and the youkai. It has the potential to create an awesome weapon, either for us or against us."

"But…it's not there---" Kaede's expression halted her in her tracks, and she let out an exasperated breath. "What now?"

"I wasn't entirely truthful with you. It has disappeared, to a large extent. However, there are… remnants. I have no idea of the significance of---"

"Take it out, then! Get rid of it! Fix me!"

Kaede sighed and dropped her head. "We can't. It's part organic; it would die if we took it out, and we don't know what would happen to you. Technically, and by all logic, it shouldn't be _in_ your head to start with. It was supposedly destroyed when my sister Kikyou died. She had it implanted and then she was cremated."

Kagome blinked, and shook her head. "You aren't making any sense whatsoever, Kaede. How do you know that…thing in my head _is_ the Shingo thingie?"

"Shikon Jewel, Kagome---"

Something crashed into the command tower, rocking it and sending the two sprawling to the floor as the lights flickered and went out. Kagome covered her head with her hands, images of the incinerated medical centre filling her mind.

"Kagome!" Kaede pulled her to her feet. "There's no time. You're smart; I'm sure you'll figure it out on your way," she gushed as she scuttled towards a door near the window, dragging Kagome behind her again.

"What? On my way where, exactly?"

Kaede pulled open the door and thrust Kagome through it, who stumbled and caught herself on the handrail before gulping. Vertigo swept through her at the sight of the very long drop separated from her only by a few thin high-tension wires.

"Yo, wench."

Kagome whirled and stared at the boy casually perched atop a thin pole right on the drop. She gaped; it was the hanyou boy from the warehouse. He was still wearing those odd, billowing red clothes, and his face was covered in an arrogant smirk, ears swivelling constantly at the odd crash, putt-putt-putt of gunfire and the continuous roar of the attacking youkai.

"You!" she gasped breathlessly.

"Yes, yes, Kagome, InuYasha, InuYasha, Kagome," Kaede muttered, pointing between the two.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. So, _this_ was InuYasha.

Kaede interrupted her musing by tapping her shoulder. She proffered Kagome's school loafers and an enormous yellow backpack, bulging at the seams and seemingly about to burst.

"Here. This has most of what you'll need. The rest InuYasha can get for you along the way."

"Oi! Old hag, I ain't getting her anything," the hanyou protested. Kaede merely lifted her eyebrows.

"Oh really? Kagome, give him a command."

The girl blinked, pausing in putting on her scuffed brown leather shoes. "What?"

"Give him a command, any command."

Kagome turned to InuYasha, staring blankly at him. The swivelling ears atop his head caught her attention, and almost before she knew it, the word was out of her mouth.

"Sit."

"Wha---nggg!"

Kagome clapped a hand over her mouth as he plummeted to the balcony face first with a crash.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"

He growled, trying to pull his face from the concrete, without success. "Bitch, what the fuck was that for?"

Kagome gaped. "What? How dare you call me that! Don't swear at me, either!"

"Wench…"

Kaede cleared her throat meaningfully. "Children. Please."

Kagome turned a burning glare on the older woman. "That reminds me. What the _hell_ is going on? What is a Shikon Jewel supposed to _do_? Who's Kikyou? And where the _hell_ am I supposedly going?"

Kaede sighed, rubbing a temple with an arthritic finger. "Like I said, there's too little time. You'll have to figure it out on the way. InuYasha can help with some of that." She indicated the hanyou who was now sitting on the floor with a thunderous expression on his face. He scoffed, turning his nose up and away.

"Yeah, he sure _looks_ helpful…" Kagome grumbled.

Kaede sighed again. "Honestly."

Kagome glared at her again. "Well, can you at _least_ tell me where I'm supposed to go, so that I can 'find out along the way'? Not to mention how we're going to get out of this base." She glanced apprehensively at the hungry faces of the hovering youkai. The barrier seemed stronger and thicker now, not quite as translucent or shifting, but the horde were awaiting their chance. Eagerly.

Kaede followed Kagome's gaze and winced. "Well, that's not our main problem. See, Kagome, I have no idea what happened to most of that chip in your head."

InuYasha's head shot up.

"There are remnants, as I told you, but they have shifted around your head to various different positions. Unfortunately, as you can tell, we have neither facilities nor safety to investigate here. We need to get you to Shikoku Island."

Kagome's jaw dropped with a gasp as her eyes widened. "Shikoku? Are you crazy? It's full of murderous youkai!"

"Absorbing propaganda nicely, I see," InuYasha bit out sarcastically.

"That's enough!" Kaede barked. "Kagome, Shikoku is the base of my resistance group, Heiwa, and we promote equality among humans and higher level youkai of decent sentience, enough to hold themselves back from killing humans. Those are the only youkai you'll find on Shikoku."

"Yeah, and they just kill the rest."

"InuYasha, I said that's enough!" Kaede did not sound so angry as exasperated.

Kagome ignored their bickering, trying to absorb far too much information quickly. "So… why don't you take me, Kaede?" Her voice was small again, far less certain, but clinging to what little she _did_ know in this strange new world.

Kaede smiled and reached out to touch Kagome's face. "If only I could, child." She took a breath and dropped her hand, clenching it into a fist. "But unfortunately, that's not possible. There are a few reasons, the primary one being that there is no way I could get us both through _that_." She pointed at the broiling mass of youkai beyond the barrier, and Kagome reluctantly admitted that, no, an arthritic half-blind prematurely-aged woman would not stand that much of a chance.

"Luckily, standing before you is someone who can." Kaede pointed with a smile toward InuYasha, who had given up his position on the floor and was lounging against the building wall, out of sight of the windows.

A commotion and the sound of human screams, gunfire and blood-lusty roars from the far end of the compound drew all their attention. Kaede swore under her breath, pushing the backpack towards Kagome.

"The barrier's breaking down. Hurry, take this. Remember, no one knows who you are except the Sphere, so trust _no one_ except InuYasha." She cocked a lopsided smile as she gripped Kagome's upper arms, the backpack settled on her shoulders. "Well, maybe not even him."

"Oi!"

Kaede ignored him and pulled Kagome into a fierce hug. Kagome was surprised, but hugged back, freezing as Kaede began to whisper almost inaudibly right into her ear.

"Don't tell _anyone_ that the chip has disappeared. Try to find out what happened on your own. Search your mind. You'll know, I'm sure of it."

With that, she pushed the girl away, a tight smile on her wrinkled face. She reached a hand to touch Kagome's cheek again, who was fighting back tears. "You'll do just fine, I know it."

"But Kaede…"

But the commander was nodding to InuYasha, who reluctantly pushed away from the wall and grabbed Kagome's arm roughly.

"Oi bitch, get on."

Kagome was too confused to even register the insult. "What?"

He rolled his eyes and faced away from her. "Get on my back. You know, piggy back style."

Kagome's eyes shot open wide. "Uhh, I really don't think tha-- AHHH!"

Her protest was swallowed by a scream as he gave up and yanked her up with surprising strength, leaving her no choice but to grip onto him or plummet storeys to her death.

"KAEDEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

She screamed her lungs out as the boy leapt out into empty air, his hands strong on her thighs to keep her from slipping. Her stomach flew up her throat as he dropped through the air towards the ground, her scream still ripping from her throat. His muscles bunched and flexed beneath her as he landed with a heart-stopping jolt and then took off again, sending her stomach the other way with sickening suddenness.

His ears were clamped tightly against his head as she continued screaming, wide eyed and absolutely petrified.

"Oi wench! You mind not doing that right in my ears?" he yelled back to her, squeezing his hands on her thighs for emphasis.

Her mouth snapped shut with a click of teeth. The silence did not last long, however.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

He winced and slammed his ears back again. "I'm saving you, you idiot! And my balance is gonna be off if you keep screeching in my ears, bitch. Do you _wanna_ die?"

She opened her mouth to scream a reply before a memory blindsided her. Amber eyes, staring earnestly down at her from above a bound body.

He had asked her that before… and she _had_ trusted him… and he _had_ saved her. True to his word.

She took a very, very deep breath and tried to ignore the amazingly unpleasant feeling that his leaping was creating inside her belly. Resting her head between his shoulder blades as they sped towards who knew what, she closed her eyes, trying not to bring up whatever little amount was in her stomach.

"I trust you, InuYasha."

* * *

"I trust you, InuYasha."

I nearly fall out of the sky.

But, luckily, I don't. I adjust my balance, land, and leap again, my mind spinning. But I don't have much time to dwell.

We're coming up on the army.

The youkai are swarming forward, human blood on their faces and claws, intent on the central tower. That's what Kaede was counting on, that they would be told that something important was inside and to kill everything else. They're too stupid for anything else. So it shouldn't be too hard for me and the wench to escape.

But holy fuck, there's a lot of them.

The first one sees me, a lower level oni: black horns, grey teeth, yellow eyes and scaly red skin thick as concrete. The girl on my back tenses as she sees him, too, and terror, absolute undiluted fear, floods her scent.

"InuYasha…" she starts, her voice tense and questioning.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," I say, my brow furrowing even as the words leave my mouth. Why the hell am I comforting her?

But then the oni lifts his club and takes a swing at us. I dodge, much faster than he is, and spring off a hut's roof high into the air. I spin and let go of one of her legs to slash my claws.

"Sankontessou!"

My youki arcs through the air and the hard skin of the oni, who bellows in rage and pain as he falls. The scent of his blood sets the beast inside me to roaring, and I know I can't be the only one who smells it. The rest of the horde have noticed us now, and some of them will be as fast as I am.

I regain my grip on her leg, hearing her heartbeat pound and her breath come fast, but she doesn't say anything, just buries her head in my back and clings on for dear life. She's scared, but she's trusting me.

That makes me feel a little like shit, despite myself.

I land on another roof and chance a look behind me. The swarm is divided, some pushing on towards the control tower, and some chasing after me.

Unfortunately, it's the smarter ones that ain't fixated on their orders, able to comprehend a separate threat.

A serpent slides through the air, matching my speed and taking a snap at the girl on my back. I throw myself to the side before it can catch her, and swipe my claws out again. The blades of youki miss, though, and the serpent winds itself around us, trying to make me fall out of the air.

No chance, shithead.

I grin and drop the girl.

She opens her eyes and screams in terror as she falls, but I rip the serpent's head off and rocket after her, catching her and swinging her onto my back in time to adjust, land and take off again, if a little less smoothly than I'd like.

I can feel her shaking on my back as her fingernails dig into my shoulders. Her heart is pounding hard and I press my ears as flat as I can in preparation.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

I wince. "Oi, ears, remember?"

"I DON'T CARE! YOU DROPPED ME!"

I dodge a flying fireball and push off a tree. "Yeah, and I caught you again. No harm done! I thought you trusted me?"

That shuts her up, surprisingly, but in my own head, my thoughts are spinning.

She trusts me. I haven't done anything to earn it. Hell, she didn't know my name until today, and the last time she saw me I was about to attack her.

And then I get angry again. Why the fuck am I feeling guilty that she's a naïve idiot? It'll just make my job so much easier! Follow the plan, remember? She'll trust you and hand the Jewel over, then you can kill her and do whatever the fuck you want.

Right. Settled. It's not my fault she's stupid and doesn't know about the world. It'll just make it easier to get what I want.

All the same… as we reach the furthest perimeter of the base, beyond the barrier, and all the pursuing youkai turn back to assault the tower, I can't help dreading being the one to take away that idiotically trusting nature.

I'm enough of a bastard already. I don't really need destroying another innocent girl on my bill.

But for now, I just speed away towards the mountains as smoothly and quietly as possible from the rebel base. The girl on my back is the key to everything I've ever wanted, and Kaede will be Miss Universe before I let anything…_anything_, get in my way. Not even my own conscience.

Ha. But then, I'm already too far-gone to worry about something like that, right? No matter how that tiny little bit of leftover humanity in me screams at me that nothing else  
I could do would ever damn me quite as much as this.

* * *

The young man rolled the beads in his palm thoughtfully, staring out into the forest beyond his campsite. A healing wound on his shoulder twinged and he flexed it absently, still deep in contemplation. An unhappy young man, although none would think it from his usual carefree manner. The firelight reflected in his eyes, a most unusual indigo, darkened further by the troubles that plagued him.

A large creature stared at him intently, rubbing its paws, anxiously searching in the young man's face for any reaction. "Master Miroku?"

"Yes, Hachi," Miroku murmured, not even blinking. His face was hard, the lines chiselled but the lips tight, attractive but somehow…different. He was a dangerous young man, the type one's mother would warn one about. A conman, a heartbreaker without much care for the tears he left behind. This was showing on his face tonight, where usually it would be hidden by a flirtatious charm or earnest manner.

"Master, what am I to do now? Do you have any further errands?" Hachi implored, his beast-like face eager to be told no, desperate to return to his den and bury his head in the sand. The Hunters were out again; he did _not_ wish to be caught. He had had that horror once before. But his master had called him, and so he had come. A noble tanuki-youkai, the expert in illusions and shape-shifting, in service to a young fugitive. His father would be rolling in his grave. Metaphorically speaking, considering the manner of the man's demise.

Miroku smiled tightly, turning to face his servant. "Hachi, did you notice anything strange today?"

The youkai frowned and shook his head. "Nothing, master. The Pure sent troops against the Heiwa Base outside Tokyo, but there is nothing strange about that. They fight all the time."

Miroku nodded slowly, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "True, true, but a rather large party, don't you think? And so near Tokyo. I was attacked by a side squadron, and they usually know better than that; those imbeciles they call officers know I am best left alone."

Hachi could do nothing but agree. "Yes, master."

"It was a haphazard, last minute assault. What was so important about attacking the Base exactly then? If it were planned, there would have been larger numbers of higher youkai. I saw exactly none yesterday. Nor did I sense any. So sheer force and spped was employed. Haste at the expense of efficiency." Miroku shook his head, clenching and unclenching his right fist. The gauntlet over his hand was rubbing, and the muscles were twinging where his… affliction… centred.

Hachi nodded when the young man glanced at him. His master was in one of his moods: he had to dissect a problem and Hachi was the only available sounding board. Miroku was a fairly easy master to serve as they went, if a little odd at times, and this was one of those times.

"So that means that it must have been spontaneous, or near enough. There was something there, at the Heiwa Base, that the Pure wanted, and couldn't afford to wait to obtain."

"And what was that, do you think, master?" Hachi ventured.

Miroku scowled and grabbed a stick from beside him, throwing it into the fire with a frustrated growl. Hachi jumped in fright and tried to edge out of range.

"I have no idea, and that's the problem!" His temper was short and he had never been one to be content with his failings. Such ignorance bothered him; it was his knack for knowing everything that was going on that had kept him alive so long.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair; black, shoulder length and kept in a rat tail in accordance with his profession. His father had taught him well, in what seemed a previous life.

He stopped that train of thought before it could go anywhere significant or painful. Far better to cauterise such a wound than let it fester on a night like this.

"I need to know. I'll go tomorrow and see what I can find out," he muttered, staring into the flames. He was fairly confident that he would elude capture, but such things were never certain.

Hachi was still glancing nervously at him, awaiting instructions, and Miroku waved a hand dismissively at him, closing his eyes and breaking his contemplative trance.

"You can go, Hachi. I'll call you when I need you again. Give my best to your mother," he said with a sigh.

"Thankyou, master!" Hachi bowed and scurried off into the undergrowth. Miroku watched him go with a reserved expression, the darkness in his eyes receding slightly. That tanuki really was a sweet creature, if a little stupid.

Too bad so many others were not quite so innocent. He rubbed his neck with his un-gauntleted hand, stiff from the attack earlier on in the day. It was nagging at him; he was sure that the movements of that army was significant, in a big way…he just did not know how, exactly. What were the rebels fighting over now?

And how could he use it to his advantage?

* * *

It was quiet.

Kagome stared into the fire that InuYasha had built, the crackling and popping of the wood the only sound for miles around. There was not a breath of wind, and neither he nor she had spoken since the sun went down.

It was pitch black, too. Kagome had never been in such total darkness before. She had never seen a forest, either; still could not, really, in such darkness. Also a first was being spirited away by a half dog-demon into the war-torn countryside. Fireballs, too. It had certainly been an interesting day, she mused with a numb sort of shock.

She sighed and placed her chin on her knees, arms hugging her legs as if they could embrace her back. She felt a familiar stinging sensation and fought the tears back mercilessly. There was nothing she could do about her situation, now. All she could do was go forward. She had to stop pining for what she had had: a life, a family.

Her mother's smiling face filled her mind, suddenly, the softness in her eyes as she patted her daughter's cheek, told her that she loved her…the way she had said goodbye as Kagome had left for school that fateful morning.

She could not stop the tears this time. They gathered in the corners of her eyes as she squeezed them shut, and leaked out slowly. A tiny sob left her throat as she buried her head in her knees, arms tightening almost painfully about her legs, fingernails embedding themselves in her calves.

Her grandfather had offered her a special protective charm that morning, for her excursion, but she had scoffed at it, rebuffing him and his 'useless mumbo-jumbo'. Maybe if she had taken it…if she had not been such a brat, such a bitch, so ungrateful, maybe she would be at home right now. Sitting at the kitchen table, eating her mother's special Oden, her little brother whining about something that had happened at school, her grandfather grumping about the newest rule or restriction, her mother just quietly smiling through it all, calming an argument or complaint here, refilling a bowl there…

Her sobs had passed the point of ignoring them now, full bodied and shaking her frame with the force of them. The faces in her mind changed from loving to accusatory, staring at her in disapproval. '_Selfish Kagome, how could you have done this? It's all your fault! You aren't normal; if you were, none of this would have happened! Shame on you!_'

She gasped for air, the force of the pain hitting her square in the chest. Her mother looked so unhappy and disappointed. Kagome could not remember ever seeing her like that.

"Mama… I'm so sorry! Mama!" she wailed into her knees, arms aching at the strength with which she clasped herself. In her mind she railed at the sad faces, '_I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! I didn't know!_'

"I didn't know! I didn't! I swear!" she cried, covering her head with her hands, fisting her fingers in her hair. Her grip tightened and she welcomed the pain: she deserved it. But already the strain of the day was making itself felt; the tears slowed and the sobs quieted as her exhausted body struggled to keep up.

"I'm sorry I'm…I'm…this freak," she whispered finally, lifting her head to stare into the darkness beyond the fire, darker than anything she had anything she had ever seen in her life. Darkness into which she had to venture, the stuff of the unknown, for the sake of a cause she did not even understand.

From high in the branches of the tree behind her, golden eyes glowed as InuYasha watched her cry.

* * *

Kagome woke to completely alien sounds. The calls of a thousand birds, the wind as it rustled through the forest, the buzz of insects droning underneath it all. Rubbing the crick in her neck she pushed herself up from where she had slept on the ground. She stared in unabashed wonder at the mid-morning scene around her as she brushed the leaves and dirt from her cheeks.

There were trees.

The only tree Kagome had ever touched was the God Tree at her family's shrine. But the forest around her, the canopy of green and brown, the sweet smell of the air, the gentle hiss of the wind as it wove through the branches… it was…

Her eyes were wide and lips parted as she stood. Her hand stretched out and she walked slowly towards the nearest tree, transfixed. The God Tree's branches had always been high above the roof of her house, and thus the only leaves she had ever touched were brown and dead, fallen lifeless from the Tree. But these trees… they were adorned by countless green leaves, almost pulsing with life. She could almost feel them, living entities with a presence as real as herself. She had read about forests, heard about them, known clinically that she was in one the night before…but never had she imagined.

Her fingers touched a low hanging branch, then grasped a handful of green, juicy, _alive_ leaves. She choked out a laugh, her face alight with wonder and awe as her fingers stroked the surface of the leaf. It was cool, smooth, harder than she had expected. A smile spread, slowly at first but gathering momentum, until it suffused her entire face, her joy shining through.

She laughed and stepped back, staring around her at the forest surrounding the tiny clearing. Spreading her arms wide she spun, feeling the sun on her face for the first time unfaded by a barrier, the wind in her hair untainted with fumes, the greenery around her totally natural.

Suddenly, things were not so bad.

* * *

She looks like an idiot.

This stupid grin on her face, giggling like a head case and staring at the goddamn trees like she's never seen one before. What happened to the blubbering wreck last night?

I decide to get this show on the road. "Oi wench!"

She slows to a stop, swaying slightly in dizziness, searching me out among the tree branches. I step off from my perch and land on the ground, glaring at her. She glares back.

"Don't call me a wench!" she yells, placing her fists on her hips and pouting slightly. She looks like a kid like that, for crap's sake.

I sneer. "Well, that's what you are, isn't it?"

She rolls her eyes at me and I almost growl. "A person is not defined by _what_ they are, you idiot."

I freeze, but just as quickly try to cover it up with a scoff. "Keh. Whatever."

She just smiles indulgently at me and walks over to her backpack, the one that Kaede gave her. "Hungry?" she asks with a brilliant smile.

How does she change moods so quickly? I turn my back on her and leap back into my tree. I can hear her grumbling behind me but I don't care.

When she says shit like that… damnit, she's a human, a miko, everything that ruined my life and this whole godsforsaken country. So why the hell can't she act like one?

Focus, hanyou!

I jump down again and walk over to her. She's eating a rations bar and staring at the damn trees again. Idiot.

"What's with you and trees, bitch?"

She sighs, the content smile on her face not even wavering at my insult. Which irritates me, to say the least. My attitude is all I've got. Don't tell me Kaede and her indifference rubbed off on her.

"I've lived in Tokyo my whole life. I've never seen a tree other than my Shrine's sacred tree. I've never been in a forest." She sighs again, tilting her head up to the sky. "This is all new. It's wonderful. I never dreamed of anything like this."

I scowl. "Last night you weren't so happy about it," I growl, and nearly kick myself at the heartbroken look that ghosts over her face.

Her head drops and she stares at the ground. "I know…" she whispers, food forgotten. "But…there's nothing I can do about it, is there? I may as well appreciate the good in this."

"Good?" My temper is short this morning, whether from guilt or fatigue or something else I have no idea. I just know that I want a fight. "How is any of this good? It's just a forest! I lived in them my whole life! And you're gonna be seeing a whole lot more of 'em before we reach Shikoku, if we _can_ even get there…"

She turns her head and stares at me with those huge blue eyes that show everything that she's thinking. I can't meet her gaze and just glare out at the damn trees. Finally she sighs and looks at the forest, too, a tiny frown on her face.

"I guess you're right. But still. I like them."

She eats the last bit of her ration bar and drags her knees into her chest, resting her head on her knees. She looks so small and lost and I feel like a bastard. Which, ironically, I technically am.

"So what's the plan?" she murmurs.

"Huh?" Her eyes slant towards me with a glint. "Oh. Well, we walk."

She nods and stands slowly, stretching luxuriously. Her skirt, already short and tattered, hitches up further, and from my vantage point I get quite the view.

"Keh."

I grab the backpack and stomp out of the clearing towards the west.

* * *

Miroku sighed as the guards pushing him along jostled him a little more than necessary. Honestly. He got the point already. Yes, he prisoner, them jailers. Insert appropriate grunting and chest pounding here.

Honestly.

He had come to the conclusion that there _was_ a reason that Class D's were just that. He had had enough sneers, crude unimaginative jokes involving bodily functions or mothers, and petty displays of authority to fathom their complete lack of anything even vaguely resembling independent and original thought.

His guard jerked him around a corner and Miroku nearly tripped on his robe. He had been slightly careless in his investigations around the outskirts of Tokyo, trying to pick up a hint of the disturbance between the rebels, when a patrol party had caught him. He could have escaped from their ridiculous idea of containment easily enough, but a few stray comments about the "horde of vermin" had stayed his hand, and he had allowed them to lead him to a containment facility just outside the barrier.

The corridor came to an end, finally, and the guard pushed Miroku through the door of a cell, sending him sprawling onto the floor filthy with various bodily fluids and excrements. Lovely. Why clean up for a prisoner?

The guard sneered something about Miroku's mother and the guard's dog, before slamming the door. One could never gently close a cell door, Miroku had noted over the years. It was absolutely essential that it be slammed with as much vigour as could be mustered.

Honestly.

Miroku rubbed a sticky and odorous finger over his equally smelly temple, trying to soothe the raging headache that always seemed to eventuate when dealing with idiots. He sighed and lifted himself from the grimy floor. The smell did not bother him; years in a cell similar to this one had long since dulled his sensitivity to stench and confinement.

He did not want to think about that. Nonetheless, his right hand twinged, and he fiddled with the rosary wrapped around the gauntlet. It had been many years since he had been in a situation like this, but it was almost painfully nostalgic.

He sat down on the grubby cot against a wall of the cell, arranging himself comfortably and folding his legs, his hands resting palm up on his knees, eyes drifting shut. His senses extended out…_and he was away._

_The guard room was reasonably full. Shift had swapped at the same time as the patrol had returned, so there was a large gathering of soldiers at the tables, nursing their various drinks. Contraband was easy to come by in the ranks of the military, so beer was the drink of choice, closely followed by vodka from the Russian colonies. _

"_So then, he says, 'What?' and I say 'Don't pretend!' and he says 'What?' and I hit him with a mug!" a corporal snorted in malicious glee, floored by his own hilarity. The other soldiers laughed, too, some just as enthusiastically, some not so much. It was a pretty good measure of relative intelligence as to who found such an anecdote amusing._

_One remained completely silent. _

_When the hubbub died down, that man stepped forward, staring at those come back from patrol. His lapels marked him a Captain, a Class B. "Did you see them?"_

_The group exchanged shady and somewhat apprehensive looks. "What you mean, boss?" one asked._

"_The horde. Or their prey."_

_Shifty looks again. "I I I I dunno what you mean," the spokesman rasped, the stress obviously getting to him._

"_Damnit!" the Captain yelled, slamming a fist down onto the table and making the glasses jump, as well as some of the soldiers. "Your priority order is to retrieve that girl! There was no sign of her in the wreckage of the rebel base, nor in the remains of the youkai horde! Does anyone know what that means?"_

_Silence. Blank faces._

_He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That means, you geniuses, that she's _out there_ somewhere!"_

_More blank looks. _

"_And we have to get her!"_

_Vague understanding._

"_And you bring me some two-bit wannabe monk who couldn't fart his way out of a paper bag when I want that girl!"_

_Slightly-less-vague understanding. Punishment imminent._

"_So I do hope that I am not in the least bit unclear when I say that finding that girl is imperative! That means very, very, very important!" he enunciated with exaggerated lip movement._

_They nodded and the Captain deflated somewhat. _

"_Good." He smoothed his uniform over his chest and fixed his men with a glare. "Squads 104 and 216 are on patrol next, route 86. And keep your eyes open, this time."_

…and he was back.

Miroku opened his eyes slowly, a new glint to them. Stroking his grubby chin thoughtfully, he made his way to the door, examining the hinges and bolts on autopilot. As he slid the door off its hinges and stepped into the corridor, he smiled and began whistling the tune to a bawdy song.

A girl. His favourite thing. And this one was _extra_ special. He grinned as the plan unfurled in his mind like a perfect lotus flower, exquisite in every facet.

Let them see what this two-bit wannabe monk could fart his way out of.

* * *

Kagome's feet hurt.

She had been trudging along behind InuYasha for over three hours, without stopping, without conversation, only walking, walking, and more walking. And she was tired.

"InuYasha," she panted; a life devoted to academic excellence had not prepared her for marathon hikes through wooded and uneven terrain.

He merely flicked an ear her way and kept walking. In fact…was he walking faster? He was! Why, that little…

"InuYasha!" she yelled this time, halting and glaring at the silver hair cascading down his back.

Both ears flickered backward this time, but he did not stop. "What?" he grunted.

"I have to take a break," she stated firmly, spying a rock and limping towards it. Her feet were aching like crazy, and the beginnings of a blister had her rummaging in the huge backpack Kaede had given her for a plaster. Hiking boots would have been a better idea than leather loafers.

"What the hell are you talking about?" InuYasha growled, finally turning around to glare at her, hands in the voluminous red sleeves of the red jacket he still wore.

She paused in her delving around and looked up at him. "We've been walking for hours, my feet hurt, I'm hungry, I need to change my bandages, and I'm _tired_. Honestly, I've done pretty well for the first try, don't you think?" she said with a smile, trying to smooth things over. He would surely understand that she was only human---

"No, I don't think so! I can't believe you need a fucking rest already," he grumped, sending her another angry glare.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?" Her voice was low and deadly, and had he only been paying attention, he would have apologised and shut up right then.

He was not.

"This is pathetic, even for a human! How weak are you, anywa---"

"SIT!"

"Ungflrr!"

Kagome was livid. She had been in a hospital bed _the day before_! Her mouth opened and closed as she tried desperately to control herself and _not_ sit the stupid hanyou into the centre of the earth!

InuYasha finally managed to pull his head out of his crater to fix her with a death glare. "What… the FUCK… was that for, bitch?" he snarled, golden eyes burning.

She met his eyes with a furious glare of her own. "I told you before: don't swear at me, and don't insult me." She bit off the end of each word, her tone snapping with anger.

He scoffed rudely and pushed himself off the ground, the spell having worn off. She focused her attention on redressing her wounds; the scratches on her belly had become a little infected and she was desperately trying to prevent scarring as best she could with what she knew. Her bicep throbbed a little from the gunshot ricochet, but that had been a clean cut, and was fairly easy to take care of. Nearly healed, in fact. Her days of sleep and Keade's herbal concoctions had generally worked wonders, and she was experiencing little to no discomfort from anything except her feet and head.

Taking a gulp from her water bottle, she swallowed the painkillers with a grimace; pills had never gone down easily for her. She sighed and took another sip, trying to carefully centre her thoughts on the here and now, what was in front of her, and _not_ on what lay behind her.

But of course, that never worked.

With another sigh she stuffed everything back into the huge back-pack. She had questions, so many that she felt like her head was going to explode. Confusion was becoming her normal state of mind, and the long walk had not helped her to sort through anything, merely to become _more_ confused.

But… Kaede had said that InuYasha knew things.

"InuYasha?" she called hesitantly, tearing the plastic away from a ration bar.

"What?" he snarled viciously from wherever he was; she assumed a tree.

She winced slightly at his tone and stood. Maybe now was not the best time to ask him anything. Her feet felt much, much better, and she shouldered the yellow monstrosity.

"I'm ready, now."

He landed in front of her with a thud and a thunderous expression.

"Oh, _so_ glad that Madam is ready. Would_ hate_ to inconvenience her, make her poor, mortal feet hurt, wouldn't we," he sneered, sarcasm positively oozing out of his every pore.

She blinked, then smiled. "Oh come on, it was hardly a long break. Ten minutes at most! Is that so hard?"

He did not reply, merely snarled and spun on a heel, stalking off into the trees, bare feet stomping surprisingly loudly on the soft ground littered with moist leaves.

Kagome sighed, lifted her eyes to the sky, and strolled after him.

"Oi wench! Faster than a snail, if you _don't_ mind! I'd like to get there before I die of old age, thanks!"

"You're a youkai; you don't age for… ages!"

He growled something under his breath and continued stomping away. She scowled and followed, his mutterings making her grimace.

"You better not be saying mean things about me!"

He scoffed and sneered, "The truth hurts."

With a gasp her eyes narrowed, practically able to feel his arrogant smirk.

THUD!

"OW, bitch, what the fuck was that for?" InuYasha bellowed, his hand gingerly rubbing the back of his head and glaring in turns at her and the rock she had just thrown at him. She smiled serenely and lobbed another, which he dodged before launching himself at her with a menacing growl, grabbing her uninjured bicep.

"What the hell, wen---"

"Stop there," she said, her hand on his lips to silence him. "Let me make something very clear to you, InuYasha." She enunciated every word, particularly his name, with exaggerated pleasantness.

"I have a name, which I would like you to use. It's Kagome. My name is not wench. It's not bitch. It's not, 'Hey you' or 'Oi'. It is Kagome. Ka-go-me. Come on, say it with me, Ka-go-me," she finished, removing her hand and smiling with saccharine falsity.

He blinked at her, mouth hanging slightly open, a vein beginning to bulge in his forehead.

She sighed and walked past him. "Oh well, silence is better than what comes out of your mouth most of the time."

She grinned lightly to herself at the almost palpable rage from behind her.

"Wench!"

"Sit."

"Gah! Bitch…"

"Heard that. Sit."

* * *

The mountains loomed ominously in front of them, towering over the forested foothills. Kagome stared at them, mouth slightly agape. She had seen Mount Fuji on the annual viewing day when the barrier was lowered on the western side, but never had she seen a range like this, or so close. Her experience with mountains was similar to her one with trees: she had read about them, but never dreamed the reality.

Those mountains were _enormous!_

And InuYasha said that this was the easiest way?

"Uhhh… InuYasha?"

"Hn?" he grunted in reply from his relaxed position beside her, forearm over his eyes and other hand behind his head. He had broken the news of their route to her and promptly flopped onto his back on the grass. She thought that he was more tired than he was letting on. In the past few days that they had been travelling, their relationship had already defined itself as… dynamic, to say the least. She had been called weak, bitch, wench and pathetic human, he had been called a rude, insensitive jerk, and had been sat at least thirty times.

He had not been cooperative or called her by her name even once, no matter how she berated him. He was rude, crass, arrogant, unpleasant, insensitive and just downright mean most of the time. She had cried and tripped and her blisters were infected, and still he seemed to simply not give a damn one way or the other.

Somehow she had doubts about this whole endeavour working. Already, and it was the first week!

She twisted the hem of her shirt in her hands, trying not to anger him or sound whiny and weak, lest the situation deteriorate from the current uneasy peace into something more volatile. "Are you… is this really the best way? Wouldn't the coast be easier?"

"Hn."

She stared up at the icy peaks of the farthest away mountains and visions of frostbite flew through her mind, her toes turning black and InuYasha gnawing them off in the middle of the night with a "Keh, suck it up, wench", and felt herself panic. She was not cut out for this! Outdoor survival was not something they taught Class A's! Being able to work out the height, density, average rainfall, climate and composition of those damn mountains was not going to help her cross them!

"I mean, if we go south, we'll cut a lot of time off our trip, and we'll have better landmarks, and it'll be warmer, and there'll be more people---"

"Exactly," he growled.

She blinked. "So… we'll go south?"

"No."

She waited for him to elaborate.

He did not.

"Why not?" she finally asked tartly, beginning to be pissed off.

He sighed dramatically, took his arm off his face and sat up. "We're fugitives, idiot," he began. Kagome's eyes narrowed at the title he gave her but she said nothing. "I'm an escaped hanyou from a Sphere Base and you're an uncooperative miko. There will be bounty hunters out as we speak. The Pure want you, too. Why do you think that the hag's Base was attacked?"

He sighed again, rubbing his hand over his eyes. "It's logical to go south. It's quicker, there's more food, and less wild youkai. It's easier terrain for a city slob like you." Kagome's vein ticked. "But there are more people. More bounty hunters. More Sphere Bases. More patrols. More danger. It will be hard for them to mount an expedition into the mountains after us, because the Slavers will have to go, too. They'll have to take food, provisions, cold weather gear. They won't know where we'll come out. All they'll be able to do is send bounty hunters, who I can probably handle pretty easily."

He paused again, thinking. Kagome's eyes were wide. He was being sensible, logical, rational…

"So yeah, it'll be tough, but if you wanna live, you're just gonna have to shut up and get over it."

…Or not.

She shot him a glare and stood. "Well, we better get started, right?"

He grunted and sprang to his feet as Kagome watched enviously. What she would not give for dexterity like that. He stretched his back, his bones and joints popping into place with grotesque sounds. Her foot tapped impatiently as he took his time limbering up, seeming to crack every joint in his body.

Suddenly he froze mid-crack, nose and ears twitching like crazy. A strange light entered his eyes and Kagome felt herself tense.

"What is it?"

He did not reply for a moment, before turning to her with a feral grin, bloodlust on his face.

"Incoming."

* * *


	6. Interlude 2

**Interlude Two**

* * *

The funeral was small, with barely ten people, but a more sombre affair was never seen. The giant God Tree swayed in the breeze, hung with prayers for the dead. The old shrine priest stared with dead eyes, his faith wearing thin, as he prepared to send his granddaughter's soul to the next world.

A boy stood apart from the crowd, staring at the empty urn that represented his older sister's body; the Sphere had given them nothing to mourn bar a grotesque, unrecognisable photograph. His eyes, too, were dead; filled with nothing, but his mind seethed with anger. Angry thoughts, angry plans, angry grudges.

The middle-aged woman cried torrents of grief, enough to fill an ocean and yet not nearly enough to ease the ache in her soul. Her child was simply gone, ripped from the world with a terrifying suddenness. She could not even say goodbye to her earthly body.

Slowly, the young friends began to drift away, their own shock and grief almost too much to deal with, along with their guilt. If they had not left her, if they had taken her with them when they ran…if they had not been so selfish, so cowardly, she might still be there.

The old man chanted, but in his heart he cursed the gods into whose very hands he was delivering his only granddaughter's soul.

The chant rose and fell with the breeze, the paper prayers tied on the trees rustled in accompaniment, and the sirens for curfew blared in the distance. Slavers and their charges began to walk the darkened streets, in search of dissidents. The searchlights clicked on, and still the family prayed.

But they did not believe.


	7. Chapter 5

** Wolves at the Door **

* * *

I can smell her on the air, the taint, the stink, the filth.

She's the thing I hate the most, something that's kept me up at nights just to think of more creative way to kill them.

The worst of all youkai slaves, the semi-willing, the ones that let themselves be lapdogs and hunting their own kind for the pathetic imitation of freedom they get, instead of doing what they damn-well should and fighting until they die. We call them bounty-hunters, even though the only bounty they'll get is another bone from the master's table bought with youkai blood.

They piss me off so much I get poetic.

The human girl is tense, but unafraid, standing at the foot of a tree on the other side of the clearing. I'm consumed by this new scent, with the way my blood's burning through me. It's been far too long since I killed something. My claws are tingling, just itching to rip through that traitor's flesh, to feel dying shudders underneath my hands, to drown in lifeblood as I tear it out of shredded veins.

She's getting closer. The hair on my neck lifts and I shiver in delicious anticipation. I can taste it already, the thrill, the adrenaline.

A gust of wind and the youkai is here.

"Well. What an interesting development," she drawls as she glides to a halt three meters in the air, balancing on something I can't see. Female, young, lithe, short black hair, dressed like she'd only charge a man 10 bucks a ride.

"Who are you?" the human wench blurts.

"Stay out of it, bitch!" I snarl, but the youkai girl just flashes a wide grin with her perfectly white teeth, her fangs flashing.

"Now, now, puppy, let your little human speak," she purrs. She fixes the human with a sharp stare, her eyes hungrily curious. "I am Yura. And you are?"

Don't answer---

"Kagome."

---that.

FUCK!

"Keep it shut, wench!" I yell, but I know it's too late. Yura knows now, if she wasn't sure before. She knows who we are, and what. Her fangs glint over her wet lips as they part slightly, her tongue creeping out between them, her eyes glazed and shining.

She looks hungry, and I growl.

"What an interesting development," she murmurs again, never taking her avid eyes off the wench, who looks like a fish staring a shark in the teeth. Her mouth is open, her eyes are wide and terrified, and I think she's shaking a little.

"It just so happens that I'm looking for a girl by exactly that name."

The girl's face pales. Yeah, that's right, you idiot. I can't make my move yet, either; Yura's too close to the human. She'd have her before I was halfway there.

"Why?" the wench whispers, her voice hardly making it to my ears.

Yura laughs, throwing her head back and cackling. I take the opportunity she gives me and launch myself at her. She stops laughing instantly and spins in the air, her mouth shutting with a snap and the short sword at her waist whipped out as fast as I can blink.

The beast in me roars, and she hisses back, accepting my challenge. My claws flash.

It's begun.

* * *

Kagome shrieked as InuYasha leapt through the air towards Yura. Her heart thumped in her chest, threatening to break right out as her hands flew to her mouth. His grin was primal, vicious, and Kagome could not help but be… well, not _scared_ exactly. Not scared _of_ him.

He snarled and ripped his hand through the air where Yura had been a split second ago. She cackled merrily and her sword glinted in the gradually dying sunlight. "Now, now, hanyou, don't get too hasty, there. After all, you've been out of the game a while, I would _hate_ for you to wear out before I had a chance to play with you a little."

Kagome gulped as InuYasha stared at Yura with pure hatred on his face. What on earth had this woman done to inspire a look like that? He had not even looked at Ai like that. She ran through their banter thus far. A bit of posturing, threats… but, she had thought that that was to be expected; although she was no expert at battle ---even though she felt as if her life lately was nothing but--- she was quite sure that that sort of thing was normal. Baddy and goody duke it out with words and insults prior to the actual arse-kicking.

So what was it? Why was InuYasha so incredibly pissed off?

"Bitch!" he snarled, cracking his knuckles and baring his teeth. "Don't talk to me about outta the game! You're not even fuckin' _in_ it!" He was in the air even before his sentence was over, twisting over her sword and almost catching her before she whisked herself away faster than Kagome could follow.

Kagome frowned. How the _hell_ was she doing that, anyway?

Yura laughed again, her pose managing to be aggressive and provocative all at once. "Oh, please. Not that drivel." She fixed him with a patronising stare. "Honestly, do you think that any of us who _don't_ play my way are going to live much longer, the way things are going?"

"That's not the point, bitch! Now shut up and _fight_!"

The two sped towards each other in the air, and the battle was joined. Kagome's eyes flickered, desperately trying to keep up with the speed of the action.

"Sankontessou!" InuYasha yelled, pushing away from the youkai.

Yura sailed out of the way of his arcs of youki with a giggle, and he was after her. She dropped down two meters as he swung, but a claw caught her on the cheek as she moved. InuYasha grinned and she hissed, stabbing upwards with her sword, aiming for his belly as he fell towards the ground. He blocked it but it sliced his hand, and Yura blew a kiss his way as she retreated.

Almost before he had touched the ground he was off again, chasing her as she teased him, waiting almost until he caught her, before whisking herself away quicker than InuYasha could move.

Yura grinned savagely, taunting him with her eyes and her moves, while Kagome tried to puzzle out just _exactly_ was going on here.

There were not just fighting. There was an undercurrent there. And what did she mean 'her way'?

Finally Yura broke away, a single trickle of blood sliding down her pale cheek, and she swiped it away with a hand, fixing InuYasha with another arrogant smile.

"So, hanyou," she sneered, and InuYasha snarled back. Kagome fought the urge to run to him. Yura had landed a few blows with her sword, and the cuts were bleeding lightly. She stayed where she was, however; she just knew that more than male pride was involved here, and she could not interfere now. "You're really just proving my point, aren't you?"

Kagome blinked. What point?

"My way is the way to live. Who knows, they might even let _you_ live if you---"

"_**SHUT UP!**_"

* * *

Red haze of rage over my eyes.

_**Kill her! **_

Yes. Of course.

_**Give me the coward's blood! **_

I need to taste it, to feel it thick, sticky, cloying on my claws. Life dripping from my hands, drying on my skin…

_**Give me the traitor's life!**_

She doesn't deserve to have it. I will take it from her.

* * *

Kagome screamed as InuYasha flew backwards into a tree with a thud. She whirled to stare at Yura as he crumpled to the ground. How the hell… she was three meters away from where he had been!

The immaculately composed youkai grinned, before feigning innocence. "What?" Her grin grew. Her voice was as smooth as the edge of a knife.

Kagome blinked as things began to sparkle around her. She rubbed an eye hastily with the palm of her hand, squinting to try and get rid of the irritating little glints. Was she finally cracking? What a time to pick…

Wait… she blinked again, staring at the little shiny spots in the air as they became longer, more tangible, connected.

A flash of light in front of her, and she leapt sideways on pure instinct. Something slammed into the tree where she had stood, and Yura hissed.

"So they were right, you do have some little power," she sneered.

Kagome frowned, staring at the tree where she had been, and the sword that was embedded there. A sparkle hung in the air before the sword, and she squinted, trying to understand just what was happening.

"Damn it!"

InuYasha snarled and sprang forward. "Leave her the _fuck_ alone!"

Yura giggled and sidestepped his attack. She opened her mouth as if to say something, before cocking her head and blinking. Kagome yelped as the sword suddenly yanked itself out of the tree trunk and flew towards Yura, who scowled and sighed dramatically.

"Well, it's been fun, but you know how it is. Things to do, people to see…" The youkai grinned maliciously as she began moving away through the air. "I'll be back, though."

And she was gone.

"What… what just happened?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question, as Kagome stood there blinking and staring after Yura. But InuYasha growled.

"What the fuck you think? We just met our first enemy," he said, stalking towards the tree and picking up her backpack. He met her shocked, dazed gaze and shook his head, grabbing her arm and began tugging her along.

"C'mon. We gotta find somewhere to camp tonight."

Kagome merely nodded, the wheels in her brain rolling along furiously.

Her way. The game.

There was more to this than she was grasping, she was sure of it.

* * *

"You were unsuccessful."

The voice was deep and resonant as it boomed from the speaker in front of her. Yura gave an irritated sigh and she let her head fall back against the back of the chair. She had long ago given up trying to appear respectful for the cameras; she was a youkai, damnit, and like hell she was going to let them take _everything_ from her. Her freedom was enough.

"You pulled me away just as I was about to neutralise them. Honestly, why you don't just let me do my job---"

"Quiet. It was time."

Yura plucked a nailfile from somewhere in her skimpy outfit and set to work shaping her blood-red claws into wicked points.

"Yeah, because ten minutes would have made a huge difference. I could just feel the rebellious sentiment building within me," she drawled sarcastically.

"Insolent creature."

She scoffed. "Yeah, well what did you exp---no, wait!"

She screamed.

The pain rippled through her from the deep seated chip in her brain through to her extremities, a burning inferno as her nerves screamed. On and on it went, punishment for stepping that little bit too far, for failure that was not her fault, until she felt herself break. She screamed for mercy, promised anything if they would just make it stop. Tears squeezed from between her eyelids, shut so tight that it hurt. Her claws gripped the armrests, tearing into the leather, ripping away from the nail-beds in her frenzy.

And it stopped.

She collapsed, sliding off the chair and huddling into a quivering, boneless ball on the floor. She clutched her bleeding hands to her chest, tears still falling from her closed eyes.

The voice laughed.

"Ahhh, Yura, you do amuse us. But take care next time. A little less lip, please. Now, go back and find them again, and kill them this time within your time limit. You shall have competition, so look on this as a chance to improve your lot that tiny bit more."

She raised her red, tearstained face to the speaker, and spat bitterly, "I hate you. I hate you all."

The voice chuckled again with a paternal air. "Oh, we know. But don't let that interfere with your work, my dear."

The lights clicked on and the door behind her open, a Slaver walking in woodenly to take custody of the youkai. Yura smiled slightly as she closed her eyes, waiting for the probing aura of the Slaver to take away thought, pain and feeling.

As she slipped into oblivion, she prayed for the hanyou to kill her.

* * *

At the same base as a certain scantily-dressed youkai, in a different sector, fluorescent lights flickered on and off sporadically, casting eerie shadows over the cold concrete. A group of bodies stirred, fur matted and skin black with filth. Muzzles lifted and sniffed the air, hands rubbed at swollen faces, and a humanoid male stood. His tail swished irritably, blue eyes narrowed as it stared at the speaker in the corner of the room as it rattled out static.

Finally the sound resolved itself, and the deep voice boomed into the room.

"Pack 49."

The male scowled and crossed his arms. "Who else would be in this shithole, genius?"

The voice chuckled menacingly. "Careful there, wolf. We're not feeling generous today."

"What a coincidence, me neither. Look, what do you want?" the male growled, his stance screaming rebellion but his voice tightly controlled.

"How would you chaps like to go for a run?"

The male blinked, then smiled. "Food?"

"Plenty. And a bigger room when you come back, if you're successful."

There was an answering chorus of cheers and yips from the others in the cell who had woken and were sitting up at rapt attention.

The male grinned at them and then turned back to the speaker. "Prey?"

There was a pause, then another chuckle. "Hanyou and miko. Keep her alive."

The male blinked, before he let out a chuckle of his own. "Fine."

"Excellent. You leave in an hour. You're up against Yura. Don't give us a reason to punish any of you, Kouga."

The grin widened in a manner that could only be called wolfish. "Never, boss."

* * *

The mood was subdued. Kagome picked up a long stick and poked at the fire that InuYasha had made, her stomach grumbling lightly as the water boiled. Kaede had packed plenty of dehydrated rations, but they were just so bland.

InuYasha had gone off to brood in a tree somewhere, something she had noticed was a favourite hobby of his. They had not talked since they had arrived at their camping spot, a shallow cave overhung by a cliff in the foothills. She was exhausted, and had a suspicion that he was, too. She just wished that he did not hate her as much as he seemed to. Every little comment she made was met with an insult or silence, often resulting in her losing her temper and sitting him, which served no one. She had not been able to ask him any of the questions that plagued her, that made her toss and turn at night.

With a sigh she dug in the backpack for the body wash and flannel that Kaede had so thoughtfully provided her. May as well clean up a little since the water did not look like it wanted to get hot any time soon.

She trudged towards the nearby stream for a top and tail scrub, a wash involving the least amount of cold water for the greatest smell-reduction. She was just hoping that they would reach a river big enough for her to wash her incredibly greasy hair, soon. And preferably not one fed by glacier run off.

The stream was clear running and swift, not to mention very cold. She tried not to screech when her wet flannel touched the hot skin of her neck. Washing as quickly as she could, she scrubbed away the caked dirt on her face and arms with a small, wistful smile. What_ would_ her mother say if she saw her now? Kagome was well known for a slightly obsessive attitude towards cleanliness and for hogging the bathroom in the morning. But here she was, with nearly-two-week-dirty hair and settling for a flannel bath.

She sighed. At least she could think of her family without bursting into floods of tears and torrents of self-blame, now. She just hoped that they were doing okay without her.

There were occasions… _rare_ occasions… wherein Kagome admitted to herself that she was having fun. Of course, these were followed hot on the heels by periods of intense guilt for not missing her family enough, fury at Kaede for not packing enough toilet paper, homicidal rage towards insects of miscellaneous varieties who decided to make their home either with her in her sleeping bag or on her actual person, and of course the obligatory hatred of InuYasha for not letting her rest, or eat, or walk slower, or not talking to her, or not playing "I Spy", or not joining in her sing-a-long.

But before any or all of these consequences set in, she could admit, in one tiny part of herself if nothing else, that she was enjoying herself. Sun on her skin that was not tinged green by the barriers, but was warm and golden, especially in the late afternoon; air in her lungs that was fresh and clean, and did not smell of twelve million other people and their lives, but of trees and water and birds and even those annoying insects. She would break out into a heart-stopping smile and her happiness would infuse her entire being. That is, until InuYasha finally put a dampener on it.

She had only been travelling with InuYasha for nearly two weeks, and already certain things about him and the way he acted towards her were clearly defined. When she was happy, he was derisive, undermining whatever enjoyment she could glean from their situation. When she was serious but not angry, he was jittery and skittish, a haunted look stealing over his face whenever she looked him in the eye. When she was angry, he was confrontational, as if just to rile her up further.

When she was sad, he was helpless. The times that she had cried, from frustration, loneliness, grief, homesickness… he was no help at all, hovering around and yelling insults at her until she became so angry that she sat him and stormed off. Maybe that was the point, she wondered. Maybe that was how he dealt with crying women.

But who had taught him that? His father, his mother…

With a jolt she realised that she knew absolutely nothing about her companion. They had been travelling together, with no one else, and yet she could name not one fact about him, who he was, what defined him and made him himself.

She would have to be at her obnoxious best to call him back from his brooding session. She knew he did not go far, but he avoided her in the evenings when she ate, and only crept back into camp after he thought that she was asleep. Suddenly his behaviour worried Kagome. What if he did not like her? Scratch that, he had made that pretty clear. But… she wanted to be his friend. He was all that she had now, and she was pretty sure that it was the same for him. If they could not trust each other, and learn to at least get on with civility, what was going to become of them?

The forest began to press in around her, and Kagome hugged herself with a shiver. _I wonder if he feels as alone as me. If he wants a friend, to be _my_ friend._

_I wonder if he'd even let me try._

* * *

Her skin is white in the moonlight.

I'm frozen where I sit, in a tree on the other side of the stream. There I was, minding my own broodiness, and along swans the wench. I was all ready to get blustery and rude with her, but then off came the shirt.

So that's the reason I'm sitting, unable to move, staring at a half-naked girl who looks achingly like the woman I loved what felt like mere weeks ago. Maybe I still do.

It's torture. Pure and utter torture. Sure, I can rationally think that it was more than 50 years ago that Kikyou sealed me to that goddamn wall, but really… time meant nothing. I knew it passed, but I didn't pass with it. My heart hasn't really caught up.

And then there's the wench, bathing right in front of me.

Kikyou sure as hell never did _that_.

But fuck, this is even harder than I thought. Kaede had this grand plan, I think, that I would have a change of heart, _really_ take the wench to Shikoku, _really_ use the Jewel for, you know, the good of all blah blah blah insert relevant clichés here.

But I mean, really. I tried to kill her sister!

To her, ok yeah, it's been fifty years, but to me, less than a month! Does she believe that resentment and hate disappears that quick? She's not that naïve so just what the fuck is she playing at?

The wench sighs in that wistful way she gets when she thinks about her family. I've tried to avoid that topic since I heard her crying that first night. Actually, I've tried to avoid most topics apart from how fucking weak she is. Successfully, mostly. She's tried to steer it towards serious topics, but a few insults and a sit and she's fuming for the rest of the day. An angry wench is easier to deal with.

But I just really don't wanna talk about her family. I mean, they think she's dead. Fuck knows what Ai's told them. Or done to them.

The soap runs down her arm. The moonlight's in it, and she glows.

I know just how much I'm pissing her off, and I'm glad. The plan's changed. No more 'make friends to steal the Jewel'. There's nothing to fucking steal, now, is there, so no point in busting brain cells to sugar-coat myself. I'll just hang around until it surfaces again, and I can figure out how to get it.

I wonder what would happen if she died. Would that be the end of it? Or would she be reincarnated again, Jewel and all?

She's rinsing off, now, and I can see the goose-bumps on her arms. Stupid wench, she'll get sick. Hope Kaede packed vitamins in that tank of a bag. She grabs her school shirt and puts it on before trundling happily back to camp to eat that horrible dehydrated stuff. Blech.

Hopefully that stuff won't last long.

I'll have to hunt then. I wonder if I still can.

Aww, fuck it, hunting's better than that shit. I haven't hunted since before they caught me and took me to Kikyou; she never let me out of her sight, understandably, and certainly not out of the Base to hunt. For a long time I only got their crappy reconstituted goo that looked suspiciously like the dog food I saw on a billboard ad.

I think I could deal with a good hunt, actually.

My chest is slightly heavy as I remember Kikyou's face the first time I told her I hated that food. How could I hate the food I was freely given? I was a hanyou, wasn't I? Be grateful for all I got, that look said.

But no matter what she thought at first… she started to feed me real food. _Her_ food. I guess they never questioned why her appetite suddenly quadrupled, because I was never hungry after that. That first time… she just stared with a funny little smile on her face, amazed that I knew how to use chopsticks.

She had that look that always made me squirm. Like I was something to be observed and noted and studied, as you would an experiment. She looked at me like that all the time at the beginning.

Before she started smiling at me, even if it didn't reach her eyes.

FUCK, why am I doing this to myself? Stop thinking, hanyou, stop thinking about _her_.

I can't help it, though, and I know it.

So I lean back against the trunk of the tree, stare into the moon, and think of a pale, sad face that I'll never see again, except for echoes in the irritating wench.

"InuYaaaaaaaaaashaaaaa! Where aaaaare yooooooou?"

I wince, crushing my ears to my head and growling angrily. For fuck's sake, she's lucky that this is too close to Tokyo to be prowling with youkai, cos otherwise it would be spit-wench for dinner, open buffet.

"_**INUYA**_---"

"_Alright_, I'm coming! Fuck, bitch."

"I heard that. Sit."

"ARlfug."

"Heard that, too. Sit."

I swear, this collar comes off and I'll wring her skinny little neck.

As long as I'm sure the Jewel won't die, too, of course. Because that would just be stupid. Satisfying, but stupid.

So the mantra starts once again.

_DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench…_

"INUYASHA!! WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG?"

……_don't KILL the wench, don't KILL the wench…_

* * *

The village was shockingly primitive, and Kagome stood gaping on the crest for a full minute. It was like something out of a history lecture. The small huts lay in a tight, unordered cluster to the north of a sprawling system of rice paddies glistening in the morning sun. InuYasha growled at her when she paused, but she just rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Keh," InuYasha grumbled, but he paused and stared down at the village with her.

She pointed down the hill. "Is this even real? It's like something out of a book. Why do they live like this?"

He shot her a sharp look. "They prefer it, I guess."

She blinked and turned to him with a disbelieving expression. "You're kidding."

He rolled his eyes. "Does it look like it, wench?"

"It's Kagome," she replied absently out of reflex, back to staring at the tiny village. "But…why?"

He scoffed. "It's this or Tokyo."

She frowned. Which was worse, living without even basic amenities, regressing into the primitivism of centuries ago, the risk of dying from something that could be cured with a simple pill… or living under the Sphere, without choice, or freedom?

"Come on, bitch, we ain't got all day!" InuYasha hollered over his shoulder. He had resumed his walk down the hill towards the cluster of huts.

"It's Kagome!"

She grumbled all the way down the hill, sure that he was enjoying every minute of her frustration. She was in a foul mood, and it was all his fault. At some ungodly hour pre-dawn, he had shoved her rudely awake, declaring that she needed to get off her fat human arse and get walking.

That, she thought with a huff, a stomp, and a surreptitious glance at her behind ---which was _normally_ proportioned, thank you!--- was _not_ the manner in which she preferred to be awoken.

The villagers were another shock to Kagome's city-bred sensibilities. They were clad in traditional, filthy robes, and cowered behind buildings as the two neared the village proper. Kagome heard whispers of 'youkai', 'tribute', 'sacrifice', 'kill it' floating up towards them, and felt the hairs on the back of her neck lift.

"Uhhh, InuYasha, are you sure that this is the best idea?" she hissed, keeping her eyes firmly on the small crowd gathering in the main street of the village.

"Nope."

She blinked. "You're kidding right?"

"Nope."

She gaped. "Then why---"

"SLAVER! Halt yourself and your creature, NOW!"

Kagome whirled around, her heart thudding in her chest in panic as she scanned wildly for the Slaver and her charge. There was no one that she could see behind them on the track, but that might not mean anything. She tensed, ready for anything…

"Wench, they mean us," InuYasha muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"What?"

The crowd seemed to be swelling in numbers, and Kagome glimpsed pitchforks, torches and mallets. She had the insane and completely irrational urge to laugh at the ultimate cliché village-lynching picture that the grubby peasants presented, before quickly sobering at the realisation that _she_ was the lynchee.

She sputtered, backing away a few steps. InuYasha merely stood, his arms tucked into the wide red sleeves of his odd red outfit, looking for all the world as if things like this happened to him all the time.

But then again, with _his_ social skills, she would not be surprised if they did.

She shot him a glare as the gaggle of peasants vacillated, some stepping forward and others stepping back, jostling to the front and to the rear, trying to gain some sort of organization.

"Why the hell do they think _that_?" she hissed.

He shrugged. "What would you think if a youkai and a human swanned into your village?"

"But…but… but look what I'm wearing!"

He rolled his eyes and shot her a withering look. "Yes, wench, because your outfit is really the first thing that entered their minds."

"But why aren't I wearing my uniform?"

"I dunno, it got shredded!"

"Then why didn't I go straight back to Base?"

"You can't get back over the mountain!" he yelled, stepping up to her threateningly.

"I got here, didn't I?" she shot back, meeting his glare and standing on her tiptoes. He growled and shoved his face bare inches away from hers.

"You got hurt!"

"I'd order you to carry me!"

"I hurt my leg!"

"I'd make you anyway, I'm a _heartless Slaver_!"

A cough from behind them broke through their heated logistical debate. With a curse under his breath, InuYasha stepped in front of Kagome and fixed the villagers with a glare. The man, who had bravely stepped to the fore, visibly withered under the hanyou's scrutiny, but gathered his courage and spread his hands in a supplicating gesture.

"What… what brings your mistress here today?"

InuYasha scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, _she's_ my mistress. Keh, don't you recognise a hanyou when you see one?" He waggled his ears for effect.

Kagome sighed and stepped around him. "InuYasha, don't antagonise them." She turned to the thoroughly confused man and bowed politely. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kagome and this is InuYasha. I'm not a Slaver and he's not chipped. We're really tired, actually. Do you have a room for the night?"

Speechless, the man could do nothing but nod and point towards the headman's hut. This girl was… odd, but she seemed nice enough. And of course, her skirt was _obscenely_ short. No Slaver he had ever seen would be caught dead in something like that.

Not that he was complaining, or anything, he mused as she sashayed along in front of him. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Such thoughts were circling his mind until the hanyou turned around and gave him a glare promising untold worlds of pain if he did not stop staring.

Being a wise and self-preserving individual, he did as advised.

* * *

Yura's eyes glinted as she stared down at the village in the small valley. The faint tug of her Slaver was in the back of her mind, and thanks to her regular injections of an experimental drug, she had no chance of fleeing, even were the connection to be severed.

It was disgusting. Not only was she bound to that pathetic zombie of a human, but she had bloody_ withdrawals_ if she was away for too long!

She let out an irritated sigh. Well, not for long. Taking the miko and killing the hanyou was her ticket to privilege. It was not likely to actually happen, of course, but she could dream. And plot.

A scent wafted past her with a sudden gust of wind and she spun with a snarl. Kouga just grinned cockily at her, eyes running lasciviously up and down her barely concealed body.

"Now, now, Yura, play nice. You know the rules, we can't hurt each other," he drawled, uncoiling his body from where it leant against a tree and stalking silently towards her, tail lashing from side to side.

"Oh please, Kouga, I don't need to hurt you. You do that so well on your own, chasing your tail. I can just sit back and watch you fall all over yourself," she sneered.

His face became dramatically stricken, a clawed hand clutching his chest and fisting in his armour. "You wound me… I thought we had something beautiful."

She rolled her eyes and turned away. "Oh, please. Spare me your dramatics, for once."

She heard him sigh, and suddenly he was right behind her, his breath ghosting across the back of her neck and his hands lightly gripping her shoulders. "You're right. This is serious business," he crooned, and she resisted the urge to shiver. "We win, you die; you win, we die. One of you, 40 of us… I'm not liking your odds."

She scoffed and shrugged out of his grasp. "You don't have to like them. I could take your wolves any day. They might be a nice addition to my collection, actually. More exotic than anything I have at the moment. Once I get the lice off."

He sighed and spun her to face him, his blue stare unblinking and unnerving as always. "Yura, listen to me. I'll let you go. I'll even head them off. Just run, Yura. I know you have connections in the South. Run," he hissed, an urgency in his voice that she had never heard before, in all their years of banter and the occasional tryst. His words sank in and she blinked.

And laughed.

He shook her lightly, stopping her slightly hysterical cackle. "I'm serious!"

He was. She could tell. Somewhere within her she was touched that he would do that for her, especially now that they were in competition, that he might feel something, _anything_, for her, but the larger part realised that he would benefit while she would likely be caught and eliminated before she crossed the mountains. Hell, it was almost certain that Kouga would be the one sent to get rid of her.

And of course, there was the matter of the little chemical failsafe, the latest of the Sphere's brilliant and myriad control mechanisms.

"Kouga," she began, biting her blood-red lips and looking down. He let go of her arms and stepped backwards, knowing her answer already.

"Don't you get injections, Wolf?" she asked bitterly. "No, of course you don't. You're too valuable to waste on prototype treatments that could kill you."

He shook his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I _can't_ escape, Kouga. They've addicted me to it. I can't stay away!"

She could see as the truth hit him, as his eyes filled with understanding and horror. He started to say something, started to reach for her, but she pulled away.

"Just… stop, Kouga. From now on, it's war between us. I won't spare you, and I don't expect you to go easy on me, either. There's nothing in the world that can save me now," she finished, her voice a harsh hiss that carried all her fury and rage within it. With a final glance into his eyes, so blue that she thought she might fall into them, she turned and let herself be carried away by the invisible strands of hair she controlled.

There had been sadness, pain and pity in his eyes. She could not face him anymore. If there was one thing she hated more than her life, it was pity for it.

* * *

The thick smoke of incense hung in the air, clinging to hair and clothing. The dull clunk of earthenware bowls and wooden utensils filled the tiny hut, alongside the rustling of rough cloth and the sounds of chewing, punctuated by the occasional cough or snort.

In short, it was awkward.

Kagome shifted uncomfortably on her knees; it had been a long time since she had had to sit traditional style for such an extended period of time. An hour she could manage, maybe even two, but three? That was pushing it.

InuYasha burped loudly from behind her and she sighed lightly. He had said not one word since they had entered the headman's home, and she was beginning to think that he never would, thus leaving her to explain their situation; their hosts had been generous, and she could not put it off any longer.

But how could she explain when she really had no idea herself?

The headman was called Omori, a slight and weaselly man who she thought just might be cleverer than he looked. The harmless-old-man routine was a good front, she had to admit; she had been fooled until she saw the gleam in his eye as he glanced over her backpack.

He wanted something, and damned if she was going to let him have it. It was the principle of the thing. She was not sure why, but she knew that she did not trust him.

Omori cleared his throat and clapped his hands, summoning his daughters to clear the plates and bring sake. They were skinny, shy girls, who cast nervous eyes at InuYasha and scandalised glances at Kagome's bare thighs. The schoolgirl ground her teeth and fought the urge to exclaim that _she_ had not chosen the obscene skirt, but she knew full well that that would serve no purpose, simply endanger their already fragile warm welcome.

The dishes were cleared and shallow bowls of sake placed in front of Kagome, InuYasha and Omori. Omori's wife ducked her head and backed out of the room with a final hesitant look at Kagome.

Omori stared at the screen door as it slid closed before sliding his gaze towards the girl.

"Now. Let us drink a toast to… to the safety of the village," he suggested with a dip of his head, before lifting his bowl and indicating that she should do so, too. Kagome shot a look to InuYasha, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, with no obvious intention to touch his sake.

"InuYasha," she said in a warning tone while still trying desperately to sound pleasant.

"Keh," InuYasha grunted.

"InuYasha!" she hissed, slightly more threateningly this time.

"I don't drink sake, wench," he growled, "and neither should you." He sneezed and shook his head, the incense making his eyes water.

"You're being rude," she said pointedly with a glare.

"Keh."

"I'm sorry, sir, InuYasha has yet to learn the finer points of gratitude," Kagome apologised to Omori, with a pointed glance at the hanyou. Honestly, he infuriated her. Her first interaction with people outside Tokyo, no clue as to how to go about it, the one man who could possible help them. and InuYasha had to go and insult the hospitality of his house. She did not trust the geezer either, but really, InuYasha was being ridiculous.

She growled under her breath and turned back to Omori. The skinny man was eyeing InuYasha with barely concealed hostility. InuYasha glared back, challenging the headman to just _dare_ say something.

Unfortunately, Omori took the bait.

"Why do you stare, hanyou? Your mistress has given you an instruction, yet you disobey. I cannot help but think that unwise."

InuYasha gaped for a second before snarling loudly and springing to his feet. In one bound he had the headman's haori in his fist, shoving his face close to Omori's and baring his teeth in a very clear threat.

"InuYasha!" Kagome gasped, scrambling over to the pair currently glaring each other down. She tugged futilely on InuYasha's sleeve, trying to dislodge his grip on Omori, but it was like trying to tug a tree's branch off at the trunk. The hanyou was immovable as stone.

Omori grinned slightly at InuYasha, seemingly oblivious to just how close he was to lacking a limb or two. "You are defiant, hanyou. And yet you let this girl rule you? Weakness, I think," he murmured, sounding for all the world as if this were a normal conversation over a cup of tea. Kagome gasped slightly at his words, but dismissed it in her mind as testosterone-driven ramble. She missed the breathy whisper that passed the old man's lips.

"A weak, unworthy half-breed. How long will it take for her to learn to despise you, do you think?

InuYasha, however, missed nothing.

* * *

This bastard.

I feel the flexing and shifting of the muscles under my hand as I drop my grip on the haori and grab his throat instead. He chokes slightly, and I shiver at the sound.

_**Yes. **_

The incense is thick in the air, and I can only barely smell the fear which should be clawing its way up my nose by now, but even the hint of it is…

_**Good. We are powerful. **_

In my mind I can already hear the dying gurgle that'll come when I finally release the windpipe, crushed, useless, slowly filling with blood and fluid.

_**He is weak. Old. Diminished. **_

I will make him sing like that for me.

_**It is nothing to be rid of him.**_

Death on my hands.

_**Merely a human.**_

"InuYasha, stop it! Let him go, _now_! He's our host, for goodness sake! Oooh you are going to get the sitting of your life if you don't drop him now…"

_**Unimportant.**_

…Who …?

_**Irrelevant!**_

"InuYasha!"

…her.

She's getting desperate.

And flashing through my brain, an image of her lying broken and prostrate on the ground, bloody and lifeless.

_**Yes. **_

…No.

_**Yes!**_

* * *

Kagome was running out of ideas, and Omori was running out of air.

InuYasha's face was frozen in a snarl as his hand squeezed gradually tighter and tighter around the headman's skinny neck. Omori scrabbled with blunt yellowed fingernails at the hanyou's forearms, but InuYasha did not even seem to notice. Omori's struggles began to slow and Kagome panicked.

"SIT!"

InuYasha slammed forward, on top of Omori, and Kagome felt like kicking herself even as she tried to tug the insensate old man from underneath the growling hanyou. His hand had dislodged in the fall, but his weight and the spell were still pinning Omori to the ground and squashing his ribcage.

She grabbed InuYasha's shoulder and tried to pull him off instead, but the spell was strong and he would not budge.

So, as always, she settled for yelling. "InuYasha! What the _hell_ was that all about? He's human! He's our host! He… he… he gave us bean-paste cakes!" she finished in slight desperation. She could feel the water closing over her head, the things she just did not understand about this strange, ugly, violent world that she was now in. She was ignorant and naïve, and she knew it.

The headman had not looked surprised, merely smug when InuYasha had attacked him. He had provoked him, taunted him. Why?

Why, why, why?

The spell had finally worn off and InuYasha rolled to one side with a slight groan, his growling over. Hacking gasps tore through Omori as his lungs scrabbled for all the oxygen that they could get.

"InuYasha! Apologise right now!" Kagome screeched, panic seeping into her bones, images of lynching villagers chasing after her with feathers and tar, Omori naming her an accessory to assault.

"Keh," he whispered hoarsely, picking himself up off the floor. He looked tired, she noticed, exhausted and drawn. "You expect me to apologise to this bastard?"

She crossed her arms and fixed him with a stern look. Damn straight, she did.

His eyes met hers and she nearly gasped; she had never seen emotion other than anger or scorn cross his face, but now… he was…

Sad?

He shook his head slightly, the aggression piling back onto his shoulders and tensing up his stance.

"Stupid wench. You don't understand anything," he scoffed. With a final withering glare at the prostrate form of Omori, he stormed out of the hut.

Kagome crumpled in a heap onto the tatami, feeling the sting in her nose and the lump in her throat that heralded a crying fit.

_No. No, I don't understand. _

_Why won't anyone teach me?_


	8. Chapter 6

** The Spring of the River**

* * *

"Hiraikotsu!"

Pottery vases smashed in rhythmic succession as the huge bone spiralled through the air, skimming the pedestals set at even distances apart in a semicircle.

A young woman stood erect, poised and focused at the other end of the yard, her eyes slightly narrowed as she tracked the path of her weapon with a perfectionist's eye. As the boomerang sailed back towards her at the end of its arc, she extended one hand above her head and caught the leather strap, twisting it and snatching the bone out of the air. The stolen momentum transferred to her and she slid back a pace, her body still tense and in perfect form. The dust settled and she straightened, her right arm curled back over her shoulder, the weapon hanging motionless down her back.

She allowed herself the most infinitesimal of smiles as her audience let out a small, dignified bout of applause behind her. She was exhausted, her muscles ached and the trials had seemed almost too much at points, but… she was finished.

And she had triumphed.

She turned briskly on a heel and marched to the platform at the end of the yard, whereupon three figures stood. All were dressed in the uniform of the Exterminators, black bodysuits of youkai-hide armour, strong as iron but supple and malleable. The mandarin collars were trimmed with teal, the colour also of the sashes holding on their beige shoulder-, knee- and belly-guards. From the left collarbone down the left breast twined a sinuous, hook-like pattern embroidered in gold thread. The formal occasion had them in full battle regalia, katana sheathed at their sides, chain-scythes hanging from their belly sashes.

One of the three men stepped forward, a smile on his face. The young woman halted, back ramrod straight, and bowed deeply, stopping with her torso parallel to the ground.

"Commander Tsuyoki," she said formally, not looking up.

"Lieutenant Sango," he returned, his voice austere. "You have performed outstandingly, as always."

A tiny smile flashed across her face before she schooled her features into impassiveness once more, staring sternly at the dirt floor. Her muscles were screaming at her, and a trickle of blood wound its way down her arm from a laceration on her shoulder, but she stayed rigidly in place. All the time in the world for coddling her battered muscles later. Now, she was waiting for the culmination of a lifelong dream.

"We are in agreement, Lieutenant, that you will be given the title of Solitary and rank of Captain." The man tapped her on the shoulder, grinning now, formality cast off like an unwanted shroud.

She straightened, her muscles protesting, but the pain faded when she saw his face, rough and weathered, scarred and severe, split in the largest grin she had seen since the birth of her little brother.

"Sango," he boomed, arms opened wide, beckoning her. Her composure cracked as a grin to match his spread over her face.

She gave a squeal of pure girlish delight as she collided with him, grabbing him about the neck. His arms closed around her in a bear hug as he lifted her clear off the ground and spun.

"Sango, my Amazon!" he laughed as the pair twirled in a circle in the yard. "You earned this, Sango, I've never seen you like you were today! So strong, so focused… nothing would have stopped you, not hell itself!" He laughed and spun her again, his pride nearly bursting out of his chest. His daughter, youngest Solitary ever at just 18.

Sango squeezed him tighter. "Papa…"

Nothing could stop her now.

* * *

Miroku swore as the howls started up again, closer this time, and on both sides. 

Youkai, no doubt. Natural wolves were extinct, and only their avatars remained. Those avatars were chipped and bound, sure as the sun rose in the east, and chipped youkai were never known for their tendency to ignore spiritually adept persons, such as himself. Especially ones with bounties on their heads, such as himself.

The mountains loomed in front of him, the small and only pass inviting and yet menacing all at once. They would know where he was headed, and wait for him there. Yet he had no choice but to walk into their trap; over the mountain he must go.

Why had he dismissed Hachi? Sometimes he was too compassionate for his own damn good.

* * *

Kagome hiccuped as the tears finally dried up. She had curled up in a corner of the hut, cradling her legs to her body, and wailed like a baby for a good five minutes. Omori, preoccupied with his newly restored ability to breathe, had paid no heed to her until now: he crouched down in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. 

"Are you alright, Kagome?" he asked, surprisingly gently.

"Yes, sir, I'm f-fine. Just a little overwhelmed," she stuttered, the tears having made her throat somewhat raw and jaw somewhat wobbly.

He patted her head and stood. "There, there, now, all better, see? Come and let us drink that toast." He held a hand out and she grasped it, uncurling her body from the corner. This man was rather like her grandfather, without the eccentricities. Silly, overreacting InuYasha, she thought darkly, completely forgetting her own reservations about their host.

Omori led her over to the surprisingly undisturbed sake bowls and handed her one after she had seated herself. She accepted with a smile and lifted it to him in acknowledgement.

"To the safety of the village," she said, and tipped the bowl back.

Glug.

_Uh-oh_…

She had misjudged the size and shape, miscalculating the speed at which the sake would flow, and ended up with an enormous swig instead of the demure sip she had planned. The alcohol burned her throat and she coughed and spluttered, setting the now empty bowl down on the tatami. The sting passed up into her nose and she sneezed, shaking her head as it began to spin.

The bowl, filled again, was pressed back into her hands.

"Another toast, to the downfall of the Sphere!"

Well, she had to drink to that, she thought muzzily.

Gulp.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought that she caught the hint of a triumphant leer on Omori's face, before it blurred and she felt reality slip away from her.

The last clear thing that she could remember before she dissolved into giggling oblivion was that the sake had tasted strange.

* * *

Stupid wench. 

I'm brooding, something I'm very good at. Had a lot of practice. This little bout is spoiled by the fact that I keep sneezing every few breaths. Stupid incense; I could barely smell a thing in there.

I lean back against the trunk of the tree, high in its branches. Stupid human. Stupid wench. Stupid _everything_.

I sigh. Even I know I'm being childish, but I can't help it sometimes. What else am I going to be, when they expect the worst of me? Even that girl.

She's so fucking naive. She doesn't know what that headman meant, the insult behind his polite chit chat. Whatever he said to me about being controlled by her, he thinks the opposite. He thinks that she's mine: my little whore. Keh. Yeah right. Humans are too much trouble for anything like that.

I slump, my head falling forward. No, hanyou, don't think that, don't think of _her_, no matter what you do.

Too late. Oh shit.

All those times that she smiled at me, touched my cheek and told me she understood… when I held her and buried my face in her long, black hair … the first time … when she told me that she had a way out…

My chest aches.

I wish I knew how to grieve properly. I wish that I'd been taught. She deserves that, at least.

The moon is smaller than it was last night, and suddenly it hits me. New moon. In about three days.

We've got to get out of here, hospitality or not. I jump out the tree and head off to fetch the wench.

Wait. I know that scent.

I sniff the air…

Oh, _fuck_!

* * *

Everything was hilariously funny. Kagome felt her head spinning as she dissolved into giggles again. 

The world was colourful and filled with light. Rainbows sparkled around her head and she snatched at them, unfazed when she toppled to the ground, breathless and giddy.

Omori watched her with a small smile on his face. She was far gone enough, he decided.

"Kagome."

She turned to him with glazed, wide eyes. "I think I'll drink sake more often," she slurred, rolling over onto her stomach and pushing herself up with her elbows. The tie on her school shirt had come undone, and he could see her breasts pressing together through the gap.

"That would be a good idea," he fairly purred, reaching out with a hand to touch her cheek. Her eyes widened even more, hazy attention sharpening for an instant.

"What are you doing?"

He smiled again, eyes dark, and his hand moved into her hair. "The sake made you feel good, but I want to make you feel even better."

She blinked. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm," he nearly groaned in response as she sat up, pulling her legs forward and under her. The skirt, tiny enough to begin with, rode up, baring her underwear.

She giggled and put her hands on his shoulders. "You look like my grandpa, you know."

Well. If _that_ was not a mood killer… he scowled and gave her a little push; her balance was shot and she fell backwards. He was on her in an instant.

"Stop talking," he growled, hands already busy with her clothing.

* * *

_FUCK!_

I bound through the village, trying not to notice the corpses around the village. Why, why, _why_ did I go so far to have my little pity-party?

That wench better not be fucking dead, or I'll…well… I'm not sure.

Not that I care about her or anything. But that chip _has_ to be in that brain somewhere, and until I figure out where, it's in my best interests to keep her alive.

The headman's hut still has a light on. Which can only be good… right? I burst through the shoji---

---_WHAT THE FUCK!?_

I grab him and pull him off her with a roar. My blood is thundering in my ears as I slam him up against the wall and proceed to snarl in his face, red haze over my sight.

Only one thing stops me from killing him.

He's already dead.

Well. That's… _disturbing_. A shudder goes down my spine as I drop him; he's still warm. He's only about ten seconds worth of cadaver.

I turn to the girl. I'm somewhat frozen by shock, that and absolute revulsion: she was getting molested by a _corpse_. Hardly even thinking about it, I take off the shirt of my red outfit and put it around her. It barely reaches her thighs, but… well, it's better than nothing.

She doesn't even notice that she's nearly naked, instead she's giggling like a maniac and I take a whiff. The incense is burnt out but the stench still makes my eyes water.

I am such a fucking _idiot_! She smells like sake, but something else. The fucking bastard _drugged_ her! He knew that I wouldn't be able to smell it with all that smoke… he sent his family out… that look on his wife's face. I should have _fucking guessed!_

I punch a wall, leaving a nice hole in the shabby thing.

Yura's still outside, merrily killing villagers and waiting for us to make an appearance, and the one person who's on my side is out of the game, giggling and chasing things that aren't there.

_FUCK!_

* * *

And I had thought it couldn't get any worse.

HA!

You'd think I'd know by now that it can always, _always_ get worse. My life is a study in cruel irony already, so it just _has_ to follow that everything that can go wrong, does. The animated corpses beneath me shuffle awkwardly on Yura's strings, and I curse as I dodge another flying body. The villages are dead, I can smell that, but she's controlling them and I can't fucking see how. They move like puppets, flying through the air when I know that they shouldn't be able to. Hell, they shouldn't be able to do anything; they're dead.

The girl in my arms wriggles again, snatching out into thin air with her little hands, grabbing nothing but giggling like a maniac. A reminder of just how fucked up this situation really is.

"InuYashaaaaaa," that slurred voice wheedles, again, and I grit my teeth.

"What, woman?"

"Are these stars?" she asks, and once again I nearly drop her as she launches herself half out of my arms after one of those infernal 'sparkles'.

"They're not real, wench, so _stop it_!" I yell before plummeting through the air after her as she manages to squirm free. I catch her and roll as we hit the ground. Again.

Just great. I have a drunk, drugged, half-naked wench trying to break her own neck, as well as give me a heart attack, and a serial-killing village-massacring youkai on my tail. I grit my teeth and grab her by the shoulders.

"Listen, bitch, you need to fuckin' sober up and stop…"

I freeze in fear. Oh no. No no no no…

She sniffles.

Oh please, no, don't cry, anything but crying, yell, scream, hit, just _don't cry_. I _cannot_ handle women crying…

"You hate me!" she sobs, tears running down her face, and I fight down the panic that women crying always manages to make me feel.

I'm not cut out for this. If I know what's good for myself I'll just leave her and get out of here. Screw the Jewel, nothing can be worth this kind of trouble. I'm free now, why risk getting caught again by hanging around? She's just a human girl. Yura will take her back to Tokyo, they'll chip her up, and she'll be just another tool for them to use. No skin off my nose. I don't owe her anything, hell, I don't even like her. She's annoying and bratty and naïve and she's got no damn common sense. Even if we survive this battle there'll be plenty more, and I'm not willing to get killed on her account. She's not going to last long, with or without me. There's no point in any of this. I don't know what the hag's big idea was, sending her out with me, considering that she's just going to get killed somewhere along the way. If she was looking for a saviour, Kaede picked the wrong girl.

There's a gust of wind and a cruel laugh, and all my excuses and justifications fade away into blood rage and pure hatred.

Yura's here. Time to get down to business.

* * *

The world spun around her in a crash of light and colour. The sparkling threads that wove themselves about her body called to her, and Kagome extended a hand without hesitation. The thread was cool and slick under her fingers. There were so many, and she had to follow them. They all went.. this way! 

She lurched into the forest, following those shining threads. Far away, almost at the back of her mind, she remembered InuYasha's face as he had ordered her to stay put, but he morphed into something snarling and terrifying, sending her scrambling even faster into the wilderness.

The trees around her moaned in a language she could not understand, reaching their dark arms over and around her, faces yawning open on black trunks. Leaves and twigs caught at her hair, trying to stop her, and she screamed but kept running. Her sparkling lifeline stretched out into the darkness in front of her and she gripped onto it as hard as her trembling muscles would let her. The ground wobbled beneath her and the world tilted wildly, sticky hands grasping at her ankles and trying to drag her down. _Keep going, just keep going…_

* * *

Blood slides down my neck and I swear. Colourfully. 

"Getting tired, puppy?" Yura drawls huskily, drawing a snarl from me.

"Just getting started, bitch. Gonna kick your trashy arse from one side of this forest to the other before I'm done."

She laughs and cocks her head, brandishing one elegant hand. "Tough talk, but your blood on my nails tells me something different. I've got a lot staked on killing you, and I'm a sore loser."

"Might have to get used to it, 'cos there's no way I'm losin' this fight!" I push off the ground towards her, trying to catch her off guard, but I'm not quick enough. Something in the air catches me in mid-leap and throws me high into the air. Another grabs me and Yura smoothly follows with her sword, slitting my left calf. She's having fun, so it's shallow. Bleeds like hell, but no muscle damage, and I can keep fighting. There's that fucking giggle and a caress on the cheek and I'm falling fifty feet to the ground.

My landing isn't as graceful as I'd like, but I catch myself, at least. We're just about to start the whole routine over when I hear a scream. A familiar scream.

My head whips around, eyes narrowing, but the girl is gone. Fuck! Why can't stupid human wenches _ever_ do what they're told?

"Sounds like trouble, puppy. Better be careful. You don't know what manner of beasties are out this late at night," Yura mocks, fluttering her eyelashes at me, but I only snarl back at her as I run in the direction of that scream. What's that stupid wench gotten herself into now?

* * *

Miroku gripped his staff so tightly his fingers ached, but his face showed nothing of his tension. It was a mask of serenity, but he knew that no matter what his face looked like, his scent would always tell the truth of it. 

After all, wolf demons have a very good sense of smell.

Kouga stalked towards the human, the grin on his face widening until the tips of his fangs glinted in the moonlight. "Out late tonight, I see," he mocked, subtly rolling his shoulders to loosen the muscles, preparing to strike if he needed to. His pack circled the pair in the dark of the waning moon, some in wolf form and some humanoid, but all tense and growling quietly.

Miroku smiled back, the rings on his staff jingling slightly as his hands vibrated with tension. This was all a game of wits, something that Miroku had always been good at, although he generally preferred it when the stakes were not his life. This time, he could not afford to lose. "As are you. But might I suggest we skip the small talk, I'm in somewhat of a hurry." His voice was smooth and hard, and as unyielding as Kouga's eyes.

"Where are you off to at this hour?" Kouga asked nonchalantly.

"There's a village on the other side of the ridge. I hear that they have friendly young ladies not averse to warming a cold traveller at the end of a long day," Miroku replied with a waggle of his eyebrows and a lascivious grin, an act that came to him as easily as breathing.

"I wouldn't know," Kouga replied lazily, baring a fang at the human in a clear message. "Somehow I doubt that they would offer me any of that hospitality."

Miroku chose to say nothing to that, and he could feel the auras of the other youkai as they finished manoeuvring into position around him. All of a sudden he was tired of the baiting. Kouga knew what he wanted, that Miroku had information pertaining to it, and that he was not volunteering it freely, so why bother with the small talk? "Well, then, I'll be sure to recommend you to them to try and change their minds. Now if you don't mind…"

"I do mind."

Kouga stared at him with eyes hard and cold as ice. With a sigh and a slight frown, Miroku began to ready himself to fight. He had hoped it would not come to this, but since it could not be helped…

"One question, human, then you can go snuggle up to whatever whores you want," Kouga sneered, and Miroku would have gaped if his composure were not so iron-clad.

"And that question would be, wolf?" he asked, seguing flawlessly into negotiation mode, another role that fit him like a glove and was just as easily worn.

Kouga grinned suddenly, crossing his arms and flashing a careless grin, sending Miroku's mind into a whirl of analysis and contingency planning. His focus expanded to the youkai surrounding him, scanning for any tension heralding movement, preparing for the attack that had to be coming.

"Seen a girl and a hanyou 'round here?"

* * *

Kagome giggled. 

And giggled.

And giggled.

And giggled some more, nearly convulsing on the floor of the clearing she was laughing so hard.

Who would ever have thought that an enormous ball of hair trying to catch her would be so damn funny?

Another tangle of hair lunged towards her and she threw herself out of the way, laughing and batting at the errant strands that managed to snag her. She had been somewhat confused when the sparkly threads had led her to this clearing, but an enormous ball of many different types of hair had begun to attack her.

It was, to say the least, not the most threatening of enemies that she had encountered in her short experience with danger. Not when, even though the drug was wearing off slightly, she had visions of people jumping out of the bushes, armed with the latest de-tangling formula and rendering the ball so slick and smooth that it had nothing to hold it together, slipping over itself into a sea of shiny detangled hair. There was obviously something to be said for a few knots to hold everything together. Who would have thought?

_Hair that takes care of itself, the next step in revolutionary hair product_, she thought, the image sending her into fits of sniggers again, and she missed the latest tendril streaking towards her. It latched onto her and started to pull her towards it. With a shriek she began to swat madly at it, interspersed with more giggling as the threads tickled her ankle.

"Kagome!"

* * *

Miroku prided himself on being a patient man. Years of hardship and the study of the Eight Fold Path had taught him the value of equanimity and calm in situations of duress. Becoming angry and stubborn would help no one, and would most certainly not advance anyone involved along the path of enlightenment. 

Kouga, Miroku reflected, had obviously never discovered this vital truth, and Miroku himself, monk though he was, was rapidly forgetting his resolve to act rationally in situations of conflict.

"Might I suggest… again that this journey… would be completed… more expediently were I… to be allowed… to run beside you all?" he asked Kouga, albeit in puffs of breath as a shoulder jammed in his abdomen, rendering him breathless with each stride of the wolf youkai running at full tilt carrying him like a sack slung over one shoulder.

Kouga dropped back to behind his comrade and grinned maliciously down at the monk. There was a glint of mischief in his eyes and Miroku just _knew_ that he was enjoying this. The irony had to be poignant.

"Why suggest it, when you could just tap into my brain and _make_ me?" Kouga smirked before moving ahead once more, and Miroku closed his eyes in annoyance. He may have been considering resorting to violence, but there was one thing he would never do. He had sworn to never take control of a microchip imbedded in a youkai's brain, and that vow was far more important than discomfort, or his life for that matter.

Although, he conceded as the smell emanating from the wolf youkai carrying him worsened markedly, he had never made a vow against using trickery, underhandedness and just playing dirty to get his way. If he could just get his feet on the ground and his hands in front of him, Miroku could play this game with his eyes shut.

After all, this was not the first time he had been toted across a great distance whilst bound hand and foot. His eyes went slightly hazy in remembrance of that occasion. His last abductor had been a great deal comelier than this lot. Less fleas, too…

But back to the task at hand. Miroku grimaced in great distaste at what he was going to have to do next, and almost talked himself out of it. Surely he could just wait and see where they took him?

But no, he could not, and he damned well knew why. There had been far too many coincidences on this little jaunt of the past week to not mean something, and Miroku was no idiot. Those pieces fit together somehow, and he did not need his rather superior intellect to tell him that it had to do with that girl. After all, this wolf tribe was looking for her, and that was enough to make Miroku realise that the game had stepped up a notch. The Sphere wanted her, the Pure wanted her, and if he guessed right than Heiwa had _had_ her, and that she was somewhere over those mountains right now.

He just had to be next in line, and then things could go as they would from there. He was sure that it would be entertaining.

So, Miroku steeled himself, held his breath, and hope that he would not catch any of the horrible things that he was sure the smelly mass was carrying.

With a final prayer to Buddha, he bit his 'trusty steed's' butt.

* * *

"Kagome! Where the fuck are you? Answer me, damnit!" 

She knew that voice. It had never said her name before, but the swearing was a dead give away.

Twisting as best she could whilst being pulled along the ground by animated hair, Kagome squinted at the blurry figure sprinting towards her. He swam into hazy focus, and she caught her breath. The air around him was smudged gold, a haze that followed him as he moved. She was mesmerised, and still gaping when InuYasha arrived at her side and slashed through the hair pulling her towards the massive ball. He grabbed her bicep and she gasped as what was left of the bullet ricochet twinged, and his ears drooped, before flattening completely.

"What did I tell you, wench?" he roared into her face, and Kagome was spellbound by the little ripples that it sent through the aura around him. Patches of red flashed in the gold, and she reached out to touch one.

"Shit," he swore as he ducked away from her questing fingers. "Snap out of it! There are no sparkles, no strings, no happy little green people dancing on rainbows! Sober the fuck up!"

Kagome heard a feminine giggle from behind her in the trees, and she spun. Well, she tried to. Her body had trouble catching up with her head and she sagged onto InuYasha, who caught her around the waist absently. Kagome squinted at the youkai poised on the thin strings that crisscrossed the air.

"Having trouble with your human, hanyou? Such stupid creatures," Yura said with a sneer.

"Smart enough to collar you, bitch," InuYasha growled back, shoving Kagome behind him and flexing his claws. There was a tense moment of staring, just letting each know how much the other hated them, before he launched himself at the barely-clothed youkai.

Forgotten by the two opponents, Kagome turned to stare at the giant hair-ball again, something tugging at the back of her mind. As Yura threw him to the ground and InuYasha threw insults back, Kagome staggered towards it, tripping but ignoring the grazes on her bare knees. There was something, _something_ inside that ball, something that she had to find.

Grasping the thick ropes of hair, she began to climb. There had to be an opening somewhere, she could feel it.

"What do you think you're doing, you little bitch?" Yura screeched, but Kagome ignored her, just gripped tighter as the hair around her began to move. She was almost there…

There!

The sparkles were strongest here, nearly blinding, but Kagome grit her teeth and thrust her hand inside the now-writhing ball. Her hand closed on something smooth and round, and she smiled in triumph as she pulled it out. It called to her, thrummed in her brain, asking her to do… something…

She squinted at the thing in her hand, trying to see what it was in the dim light of the moon. The shape resolved itself into something recognisable, and Kagome blinked, not sure whether to be disgusted or frightened. _But…why is it red?_ the detached part of her mind wondered, while the rest of her marvelled at the halo of prismatic lights that rippled all over it in an other-worldly display.

"Kagome!"

She heard his shout at the same time as something pricked at the back of her mind. Kagome reacted on instinct, letting go of the hairball and plummeting ten feet to the ground with a grunt. Something flashed over her head, silver and sharp, before Yura was on her.

"Give that back, little girl!" she screeched, clawing at Kagome's back with her nails as the girl folded up around the skull, knowing that it was important but not quite sure why.

A vicious snarl echoed across the clearing. With a squeak Yura backed away from Kagome, ducking as InuYasha's claws swiped over her head. Kagome tried to tune them out as she concentrated on the skull in her lap. She could tell there was something… strange about it. Something tainted, staining even the aura it gave out. Her mind was still muddled, but the drugs were beginning to wear off and the sparkly haloes to fade. She knew that she had to do something, before Yura stole the skull back.

There was an angry growl and a feminine giggle from behind her, and Kagome could practically smell the blood. Fear that had been mercifully kept at bay all night suddenly swamped her with choking force, tears springing to her eyes at the strength of it. She had to do _something_; InuYasha could not hold out forever, whatever he might say to that. She was not helpless; she refused to be! She was not just a useless little girl who needed protection, and she was _going_ to help!

Her head began to throb and her eyes widened in realization, before she closed them tight in concentration. Pressure that was now somewhat familiar built behind her eyes as she tried to fight down the fear that the sensation automatically caused. She had the strangest sense that she knew what to do. She concentrated on the skull, for what purpose she had no idea, but the tickling in the back of her mind was almost as if something was trying to tell her something, and she just… knew what to do.

The pressure released, and there was a loud crack that echoed across the clearing. Kagome opened her eyes, limbs tingling and mind miraculously clear of any residual effects of the drug or alcohol, to look down upon the skull in her lap.

It was broken, cracked in half like a nut. Inside was a blue comb with a few black hairs wound around it. The strange auras were all but gone with Kagome's new-found lucidity, but suddenly things fell into place.

"InuYasha!" she yelled, wanting to ask him what to do, before there was a blood-curdling scream and Yura was on her again.

The youkai was wild, her composure shattered as she clawed at Kagome to get the comb in her lap. Time seemed to slow down and the girl met Yura's gaze, desperate but somehow resigned, in the brief moment before InuYasha sliced her clean through with her own sword. Blood spurted from her mouth with an obscene bubbling noise, and it was over.

_Oh_, Kagome thought absently, brushing the blood off her face. _So that's what a chest looks like on the inside_.

The comb in Kagome's hand cracked in two, and the threads unravelled. There was a whispering sound and she looked up in time to see the hairball collapse in on itself, losing its shape to become inanimate once more, no longer bound together by Yura's power.

Another second and it disappeared altogether, dissolving into motes of light carried away on the breeze. She could breathe again.

"Kagome," a familiar voice called. InuYasha was looking at her with a concerned frown. "Are you alright?"

The practical part of her, a part that she had barely known existed a scant three weeks ago, kicked into gear and she looked into his face. She could tell he was struggling to stay standing straight, and his face was drawn. She passed a glance over his torso: lacerations from Yura's hair criss-crossed his chest, and a few deeper wounds from her sword oozed blood sluggishly down his skin. The past few hours were shoved unceremoniously to the back of her mind to be cried and panicked over later when they were both safe, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright. But you need help. There's some medical stuff in my bag from Kaede," she said, standing slowly. The skull and comb tumbled from her lap, and she spared them a glance. "So… in the end, she was only a comb," she mused as she walked to InuYasha and circled an arm around his waist despite his glare.

As he tried not to lean on her and failed miserably, they began walking into the woods in the direction of the village. Kagome could hear something rattle in his chest with his breath, and frowned.

"You should have been more careful, you know," she scolded, and was answered with a glare and a scoff.

"Keh. Says the wench who goes running off into dark woods and climbing giant balls of hair in next to nothing."

She smiled, choosing to ignore the insult, as well as exactly why she was wearing so little. That was for later. "You called me by my name tonight, so I know that you know it. Do you have to keep calling me wench?"

"Unless you prefer bitch, wench," InuYasha said, deadpan.

Kagome stared at him out of the corner of her eye, almost sure that he was serious, until a twitch of his mouth gave it away. A weak giggle escaped her.

"I'd prefer my name," she jibed back, a comment which led, as she had known it would, into the banter that they were familiar with. Kagome felt a smile spread across her face as they settled into the dynamic that had become normal. They fought, but she was beginning to realise that this did not make them enemies.

Somehow, even after being nearly killed, with her only ally a wounded hanyou with the charm and subtlety of a barbed wire fence, things were not so bad. In fact, she would even venture to suggest that she could learn to live with it. If InuYasha was willing to learn with her.

* * *

Somewhere not so very far away, a wretched little voice sobbed, "What are we going to do?" 

There was a harsh whisper in return. "Quiet. We'll be fine once we reach the mountains. Try and get some sleep; we're leaving here at sunset tomorrow."

"But Kaede…" Another sob echoed through the dark.

"Just… hush, child. It'll all be fine, you'll see. She's on her way, and soon everything will be resolved. If that blasted flea is doing his job."


	9. Interlude 3

Interlude Three 

* * *

"Souta!"

"Shut up! I don't give a _fuck_ what you tell me! It's just a lie! It's all a lie!"

The woman was crying as she watched her son tear himself away from her in his heart, destroying the only child she had left.

He glared at her, eyes pure ice as they burned accusingly into her. "Did you think we'd never find out? We'd never figure it out, they'd never tell us?"

No.

He smiled bitterly, hatred in the lines of his face. "School was interesting today. They showed us pictures of the rebels executed eight years ago. Surprised the hell outta me to see dear old dad up there," he hissed, and then laughed, a biting, hollow sound.

"But then, now I'm surprised I ever bought that story. If it was a car accident, why was there no grave? Kagome has a grave, even though there's no body---"

"STOP IT!" the woman screamed. The boy froze, eyes widening as she fell to the floor on her hands and knees, sobbing.

She never shouted. She never lost control.

What was happening? What was happening to her, to him, to all of them? He was nothing like this. Who was he becoming?

Her voice was low and ragged when she said, "Would you rather I tell you the truth? Is that it?" Empty. That's how she sounded. And he was afraid.

He did not want to know.

But she was going to tell him.

"They found out and came for him one day. He screamed for an hour as they tore him apart, and I watched. Kagome was at school and you slept through the whole thing. What was left of him they cleaned off the road with a street sweeper. They told me that there could be no grave for a traitor," she finished in an emotionless voice, dead of feeling, expression. Nothing could express what she had felt, or was feeling, so why bother?

He shook. Any bravado he had gained from his rage was gone, and he was just a little boy who did not know who to trust anymore. His mother stared at him with eyes as empty as his own, and there was nothing they could say to fill the void in the other.

And then the anger filled him again.

He welcomed it. It was real, hot, consuming. With it he could feel. He had something to sustain him, something to grasp, to cling to keep him alive. It was easier to be angry than to be nothing. He decided he did not care what he became, as long as it was anything but nothing.

His mother stared, her eyes betraying nothing as her heart wept. Both her children were lost, now.


	10. Chapter 7

* * *

** Fade to Black**

* * *

****

"Oi monk! Get back here!" Kouga roared, tearing after Miroku through the forest.

Miroku, of course, had no intention of obeying and just pumped his legs faster. There were benefits to a childhood spent being a Sphere guinea pig: a normal human could never have escaped a youkai. Thankfully, Miroku was far from normal

Panting ever so slightly, he reached into his robes and pulled out a fistful of rumpled, stained papers. His last. A wolf howled, sounding uncomfortably close, and he composed his mind, tapping into the sea of serenity hovering just at the edge of his consciousness.

The sutras flew out of his hands, and Miroku blurred, scent and sight fading into the forest.

oOoOoOoOo

"Oi, wench," InuYasha called from his perch at the edge of the campsite, staring up at the tiny sliver of moon. Kagome turned from the stand she was building over the fire with a strained smile.

"What is it now, InuYasha?" He had been doing this all day, starting conversations only to dismiss her with his customary scoff. Something was on his mind, and though she was sympathetic to his struggle to open up, her patience was wearing decidedly thin.

"Do you… what do you know about youkai?"

She sighed and set her pot of water onto the shaky stand to boil. "I don't know how much of it is actually right, considering that I learned it in school, but enough, I guess. Why?"

He did not reply, and she shot him a glance out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting on a large boulder with his back to her, glaring down the mountainside that they were currently camped on. The village that Yura had decimated lay far below them in the valley, the freshly dug mass-grave of the villagers a painful reminder of something she would rather forget. At first, InuYasha had refused to even move the bodies, arguing that the carrion animals would take care of that. One hysterical outburst later he was industriously digging a large pit to pile the unfortunate villagers into for their final rest. Kagome had not been able to look at those bodies without either throwing up or sobbing uncontrollably. Even now, her heart ached in guilt that no number of InuYasha's gruff, reluctant assurances that it was not her fault could assuage.

"What do you know about hanyou?" he blurted out suddenly, and Kagome blinked.

"Not a lot. Practically nothing, really. Why?"

Again, he said nothing, and Kagome scowled. "Be like that, then."

The water was beginning to bubble, and she rummaged through her pack for a packet of dehydrated rations to boil. She was getting sick of nothing but noodles and nutrition bars, but at the same time she was nervous about what she was going to eat when they ran out. Which, she noted while delving through the seemingly bottomless pack, would be soon.

She ripped open a packet and poured the noodles and flavouring into the water. Out of the corner of her eye she saw InuYasha's ear twitch.

"You should eat, InuYasha," she called.

"Keh. I'm not like you, human."

"But I'm sure you still need to eat."

He snorted. "Says the wench who knows nothing about hanyou."

"If you're half-human, you must need to eat. Come on, you were badly hurt. Eat something. Please?"

They had this argument almost twice daily, and Kagome fully expected InuYasha to scoff and call her a weak human again.

She did not expect to look up from stirring the pot directly into glowing golden eyes not a metre away from her.

"Gaaah!" she shrieked, falling backwards with no grace at all. Glaring furiously at the hanyou, she picked herself back up and brushed the newest dirt off her filthy uniform. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Keh. How much longer, wench?"

She blinked. "You're eating?"

Was she imagining it, or was that a tiny blush on his face? "Your cooking isn't gonna kill me, is it?"

Back on more familiar ground, Kagome scowled at him. "You'll get nothing if you keep that up."

"Hurry up and gimme the food, wench."

Shaking her head in wonder that he was not only eating, but seemed to be less defensive than usual, Kagome rooted through her bag in search of the hitherto unused second bowl for InuYasha. She divided the noodles and broth evenly into the two wooden bowls and handed him the food with a pair of chopsticks.

It soon became clear that InuYasha had never before come across the concept known as 'table manners'. Nor the idea of 'chewing'. Kagome stared in horrified fascination as InuYasha, for lack of a better term, _consumed_ the food. 'Eating' would be an inappropriate word, as she did not really think that the food paused in his mouth at all or that it was possible to make those kinds of noises during the process of eating.

InuYasha paused, noodles hanging from his mouth, broth dripping off his nose ---and, strangely, his eyebrows--- chopsticks poised, meeting her wide-eyed stare with a nonplussed look of his own.

"Gwmp?" he asked irritably around the noodles, which Kagome roughly translated to mean "what?" She shook her head, unable to form words, and he turned his attention back to his noodles.

The food was gone in barely another two seconds, and his bowl was thrust beneath Kagome's nose.

"More."

She blinked. "Sorry?"

He rolled his eyes and shook the bowl obnoxiously in her face. "More food."

Dumbly she poured her own portion into his bowl, too shocked to even get angry at him for being rude and taking her food. She was not even hungry anymore. In fact, she was feeling rather nauseous, and so she meekly watched InuYasha and his food, jaw hanging open loosely as InuYasha snorted, garbled, snuffled, and made noises she had no hope of identifying in his single-minded determination to fill his belly.

It was gone in an astonishingly short period of time, and he threw the bowl in her general direction, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, burped obscenely loudly, and generally radiated the satisfied aura of a well-fed man.

"That was good. What was it?" he asked, as Kagome opened and closed her mouth a few times like a guppy before his question even registered. Numbed, she picked up one of the packets and read the side of it.

"It's called ramen."

InuYasha burped again, and leapt back onto his rock. A contented smile was plastered across his face as he settled back into keeping watch, scratching his belly absently.

"I like that stuff."

Kagome's composure finally returned to her and she quirked an eyebrow ironically. "I hadn't noticed."

In reply, InuYasha swore luridly and slapped himself. Kagome blinked. Nothing she had ever said had had _that_ effect before…

"Whaddya want, you old geezer?" he snarled, which had Kagome bristling immediately.

"Excuse me? Geezer? I see your brain has finally gone into full meltdown if that's the best you can do," she yelled, warming her argumentative muscles up for a full-blown confrontation. They had not had a decent fight for a few hours, and she found herself itching for it.

InuYasha stared at her in confusion, head cocked and ears perked. "What are you going on about, wench?"

Kagome gaped, not prepared for his unusually calm reaction. "I was… You called me a geezer," she finished weakly.

"I didn't mean you, idiot," he scoffed and waved his clenched fist around as if to prove the point. "This is the geezer."

Kagome very intelligently replied, "Huh?"

He rolled his eyes at her and leapt down from the rock, knocking her gently on the head with the closed fist. "Anyone in there?"

"Master, I must object to this treatment," his fist said in a muffled, disgruntled voice.

There was a moment of silence, in which Kagome's eyes bugged and she quickly re-examined any preconceived notions of her own sanity. InuYasha lifted his fist and proceeded to verbally abuse it.

"Listen, old man, you try and snack on me again and there'll be a hell of a lot more coming to you than this," InuYasha growled, and his hand cowered.

"Please, master, you know that I am your most humble vassal---"

"_Only_ vassal."

"--- and I have only your best interests at heart. It is hard and tiring work. Surely you would not begrudge an old servant a meal at the end of a long, exhausting journey?"

"I'll tell you what I---"

"InuYasha, why is your hand talking?" Kagome asked in a small voice.

"What?" he snapped distractedly, annoyed at being taken away from the argument.

"Your hand," she answered, slowly and with very wide eyes. "Why is it talking?"

"My hand…" he repeated just as slowly, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed as he stared at her like she had grown a second head. As the penny dropped, he burst out laughing.

Kagome felt her face grow hot. "It's not that funny," she hissed.

"My hand! Talking! This is good… even for you, wench," he gasped out between raucous cackles, and Kagome's face reddened. It was one thing to fight with him, quite another to be laughed at by him.

"Sit!" she yelled, and the hanyou plummeted face down into the rock of the mountainside with his mouth still wide open with laughter. A thin coat of sand covered his tongue, and things, in his opinion, very quickly became un-funny. His growl was cut short by a reedy voice.

"Oh, well done, Mistress Kagome!" his hand enthused, a small ball slowly squeezing out from under it. "I've heard that the command spell was a sight to see, but the description does not do it justice."

Kagome blinked, kneeling down to squint at the tiny little lump jumping up and down in front of her in excitement at InuYasha's condition. The tiny lump that just happened to know her name.

"Who the hell are you?" she screeched shrilly, InuYasha's ears flattening in protest.

The lump, the size of her littlest fingernail, coughed embarrassedly and brushed itself off. _Are those…arms? __Four__ of them?!_

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Myouga the flea, the most loyal of Lord InuYasha's servants, travelling the length and breadth of the land in search of news that would benefit him and his cause."

Kagome allowed that to sink in, carefully avoiding the fact that there was a talking flea on her lap, which she was sure that her brain would have trouble with if it really registered. Instead she seized on the most relevant seeming information.

"InuYasha has servants?" she asked incredulously.

Myouga coughed again, but straightened almost defensively, his miniature chest puffing up. "Well…"

"Keh." The newly mobile InuYasha slammed his fist down on the other youkai with a force that made Kagome cringe. "Some help you are. Where've you been? You didn't happen to notice me locked up in a warehouse for fifty years?"

The muffled reply was sheepish. "Ah… yes, well, I had been made aware of your condition a some years ago, and have been keeping in touch with Lady Kaede---"

InuYasha's growl was feral, and raised the hairs on Kagome's arms. "You betrayed me for that witch?"

Myouga was abjectly horrified, his arms waving back and forth frantically. "No, master! She wanted to uncover the truth of your imprisonment, and I of course believed in nothing but your innocence! You could never have done what it was she claimed."

InuYasha's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did the hag tell you?" His voice was deceptively soft.

"Lady Kaede claimed that you killed her older sister in order to steal the Jewel, causing her to seal you with her remaining strength before she died. But I trusted in you, master, and bid Kaede find out the truth."

There was a moment of silence, so tense that Kagome could barely breathe. InuYasha's face was dark and violent, but Myouga seemed to be oblivious to any and all warning signs, quite calmly jumping onto the ground when InuYasha's fist loosened enough to free him.

"InuYasha…" she began, trailing off pitifully. What could she possibly say? This Kikyo had obviously meant a lot to him, and he had just been accused of her murder. When the eruption came, it would be terrible, she was certain.

"It's nothing," he snarled, but there was no heart behind it. Kagome's chest ached for him.

"It most certainly is something, master. I could not allow such an insult to go unaddressed, and Kaede herself was eager to discover the truth," Myouga piped up, oblivious to the tension.

"Yeah, I'll just fucking bet she was," InuYasha grumbled.

"Now, master, there's no need for that. After all, it was certainly_likely_ that you might have---"

InuYasha_roared_.

Kagome fell onto her back, adrenaline zinging through her system at the sheer power of the sound. Myouga was quivering in fear in InuYasha's fist, snatched up by the furious hanyou. Kagome pushed herself onto her elbows and stared. InuYasha's eyes were a strange colour, almost red, and his fangs looked particularly vicious.

For the first time, she felt a twinge of fear when she looked at him.

"Flea, you just crossed a line. I could _never_ have killed Kikyo. Get out of my sight before I rip you apart," InuYasha whispered. His voice was deeper, more visceral, somehow, and it sent tremors through Kagome's body, instincts screaming at her to _run away_ like Myouga was doing. His tiny body was soon invisible as he frantically hopped away.

Kagome looked back at InuYasha. His entire body was taught, muscles almost quivering, every line screaming that he was dangerous. She pushed her instincts to the back of her mind and stood slowly.

"InuYasha… I…" She wracked her brain for something to say that could possibly offer him comfort. In the end she opted for a pathetic, "Are you okay?"

There was a silence before he turned slowly to meet her concerned gaze. "Okay? Am I okay?"

She said nothing, already knowing that she had messed up.

"I'm peachy fucking keen, bitch. See, I live in the _real_ world, where weak humans who know nothing about life never survive. _I_ had to fight for every little thing I've ever had. Humans hate me. Youkai hate me. My own fucking brother hates me. So it really doesn't surprise me that the only one in the world who is supposed to be on_my side_ thinks it might have been fucking _likely_ that I killed the only person who ever cared about me! So welcome to the_real world_, Ka-go-me, and get used to it, 'cause it ain't going away. Trust me."

With that he snarled and leapt off down the mountain before she could blink.

It was the most he had ever said to her at once, but Kagome wished he had never said any of it.

oOoOoOoOo

"Sis! Si-i-is! Let me down," the boy half whined, half laughed as the strong hands of his older sister swung him around the dark courtyard. The moon silvered their sweat and skin, ghosting over Sango's hair as she whipped her head back and laughed. Kohaku, all of nine years old, laughed as his older sister flung him around as easily as a doll.

She spun in a tight circle, Kohaku's body flying horizontally of the ground as she gripped his biceps. He giggled and squirmed, but only for show; Sango rarely had time to play with him. To play around, act like idiots and just be together was something to be cherished.

Finally, Sango pulled him to her and collapsed, her little brother held to her chest as she fell backwards onto the dirt. The two breathed hard, still giggling every now and again, and she pressed a kiss on his tousled hair.

"You know, soon you'll be breaking my records with those muscles. Your body took to your augments like nothing I've seen," she said, almost absently.

"That doesn't count for anything, sis. There's no one who can fight as good as you, no matter how strong they are," he replied with an emphatic hug. She shook her head with a smile and sat up, rearranging Kohaku so that he was cradled in her lap, his forehead against her neck. His tenth birthday was within the week, but Sango had received orders, her first Solitary mission ever, and she was to move out the next morning. This would be the first birthday of Kohaku's that she had missed in his entire life. She had held him as he took his very first breaths, and cleaned him after his birth.

Her arms tightened around the boy, and he snuggled closer in return, happy to be affectionate as long as no one could see him being 'soft'. His only sister was his idol, protector, advocate, disciplinarian and comforter all in one. There was no one he trusted more in the world. Their father was always busy, their mother dead since his infancy, and Sango was practically the only parent he had ever known.

He could trust her, he knew, and he made his decision. "Sis, I've got something to show you."

Sango let the now-wriggling child go, and he sprinted towards the verandah of their quarters. Instead of bounding up the steps as she had expected, he veered to the side and dove beneath them. Sango lifted a brow. He had obviously discovered her own favourite spot for hiding as a child. She only hoped that the spiders under there did not scare him, or invoke his pity to bring them into the house. Kohaku had always had a thing for strays.

He emerged, dusty and with a small scrape on one cheek, cradling something to his chest. Sango narrowed her eyes as a suspicion began to niggle at the back of her mind. Speaking of strays…

"Sis, you have to promise not to tell anyone," he began, and Sango shut her eyes tightly with a grimace as her suspicions were confirmed.

"Kohaku, where did you find it?"

He scowled and hunched over his bundle protectively. "It's not an it, it's a he and he's called Kai!"

Sango sighed heavily and stepped towards her brother. "Kohaku, give it here. Father won't even have to know, I'll ---"

"No! Sango, I won't let you take him!" His voice was shocked, his face devastated, but Sango hardened her heart and pried his arms apart to take the tiny fuzzy bundle he cradled. Even with his newly augmented muscles, hers were stronger and the struggle was brief. The kitten looked up at her and mewled softly, burrowing into her chest. Kohaku found these strays every so often, and although she knew it would break his heart, she did not dare encourage him. Theirs was a brutal life, one with no room for compassion. If she did not do this now, he would have a harder fall later on in life. For the umpteenth time, she wondered if her brother would ever make it as an Exterminator.

Kohaku shook with little hiccupping sobs, his head hanging forward to hide the tears. Her heart went out to him, but she had no choice. No unauthorized animals. That rule was very strict, and the kitten would be killed if it was found.

Still, he_was_ her little brother, still just a child, not even ten years old. She knelt in front of him and wiped his eyes with the hand not full of fuzzy kitten.

"Kohaku, there's no other way. Where would you keep it? Under the house? What about when it rains and there's a flood down there? What will you feed it? Nutrition bars? It would never stay down there, anyway, and when they find it they'll kill it."

He glared at her, betrayal and fury wrinkling his freckles in a tear-stained scowl. "They'll just kill him now when you give him to them."

She sighed and cupped his face with a gentle smile. "I won't give it to them. I'll set it free somewhere, tomorrow when I go."

He was sceptical, she could tell. His eyes were still hurt and distrustful, but she had never lied to him. "Really?"

"I promise."

His face broke out into a grin, and Sango smiled back, ruffling his hair in a way that made him duck out of reach bashfully, caught between adolescent embarrassment and hunger for affection.

As he took the kitten and ran to stow it back under the house until she left, her smile faded. What was going to happen to him, she wondered, when it came time for _him_ to become an Exterminator? When he was faced with the harsh, bloody reality of what their family had done for so many years, what would he do? A little boy who loved nothing more than playing with butterflies, of all things, when given a weapon and told to kill… what would he do? He had been spared so much of what she had gone through.

She had never been like her brother, she was sure, and he would never be like her. By his age, she already had four kills under her belt, where he just had theory to go by. But then, maybe that was for the best. She could see her mother through those freckles every time he smiled, and hear her when he laughed. Without him… what would she do? That last part of her that cared, that felt _anything_, would die, and she would become nothing but the killing machine that they had made her. Her father, although she respected and loved him, expected so much from her. Theirs was not an affectionate family, and the only time the austere Commander Tsuyoki offered even the vaguest approval was when she lived up to those expectations. Affection came when she exceeded them, as in her Solitary trial.

Kohaku was not cut out for her kind of life, that much she could tell. Not the way that she was. She could bear solitude, the weight of duty, and the blood on her hands. Fighting came naturally to her, as easily as walking came to most people. She had been fighting since before she could talk, and there was nothing left in her that had not been moulded to make her even better at it. Her body had become a perfect human machine designed to take on even the strongest of supernatural beings. Augmentations, adjustments, hormonal conditioning, muscle restructuring…was there anything left of what her body had been at birth? Kohaku had begun this process, and although his body had taken to the adjustments more successfully than other subject ever had, he was untried and inexperienced.

Her mind was the same, honed into an instrument that saw in terms of tactical advantages and weaknesses, any shred of compassion or human empathy burned away in countless conditioning sessions, untold horrors that she had studied and analysed, simulations of missions requiring her to forget who she was and just _do what she was told_.

Kohaku had been spared that, at her insistence. She had to try and preserve that innocence in him. He knew how to fight, in the sense that he had studied since a small child just as she had, and he was good at it in the practice grounds, but he had never been in a battle. He had not been conditioned to ignore the screams of the dying in favour of tactical analysis. He was a little boy who loved animals and rainbows, and she would not have it any other way. She just hoped that she could keep it that way. If she lost Kohaku the way that she felt lost…

"Sis, you coming?" Kohaku called from the steps of their house, and Sango shook herself. She had no business thinking such thoughts. Tomorrow she would be away, and there was no room for doubt in the mission of a Solitary.

She had to be strong.

oOoOoOoOo

Kagome fidgeted in her place by the fire, fiddling with a pebble distractedly. InuYasha had not returned, and it was dark. There wasn't even a sliver of moon to see by, just the circle of her campfire. She was alone, a scant few nights after being attacked and nearly killed.

Had she mentioned it was dark?

There was another strange sound from somewhere to her left, and she whipped her head around, tense and terrified.

"Why hello," a smooth voice crooned from behind her.

"Eeek!" Kagome shrieked, spinning around inhumanly fast on her knees, ignoring the pain as the hard ground tore the skin. The fire caught her attention and she lunged for it.

She brandished a flaming branch before her, squinting into the darkness beyond the circle of light. "Get away!"

A low male chuckle came from her right and before she could turn a strong hand gripped her wrist.

"Put it down," her assailant whispered breathily into her ear in a sensual voice that pushed buttons she didn't even know she had.

Tension thrummed through her body as her survival instincts kicked in, lighting a cold fire in her veins.

"Let me_go_!"

Throwing all her body weight into him, she elbowed him as hard as she could, making contact with flesh. Her attacker stumbled slightly with a grunt. It was all she needed to twist out of his grasp and swing the torch.

He was fast to recover, fast enough to lean out of reach of the flame. Too fast to be human, surely, her brain thought critically. Torch brandished defensively and muscles tense, she examined the man illuminated by the flickering light. Young features, handsome but cold. He met her stare frankly and fearlessly, hands raised in a placating gesture, one of which was wrapped in some kind of beading. His robes were rumpled.

Robes meant monk. Monk meant Sphere.

"I'm not going back, so you can just tell the Sphere that. I'll die first," she hissed with all the venom she could muster.

An affable smile spread across his face. "You misunderstand me, my dear. I am no Sphere agent."

"I don't believe you."

A shrug. "That doesn't matter. I'm merely a self-interested party seeking… well, I suppose you could call it an insurance policy."

Kagome blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Can't we discuss this like rational adults?" he enquired, sounding so genuine and unthreatening that the tip of her torch dipped slightly before she recovered herself.

"No! Leave. Now."

He sighed, as if she were a foolish child who left him no choice.

"Very well. Don't say I wasn't reasonable about this," he chided, before blurring before her very eyes. The torch flew out of her hands, a sharp pain blossomed in her back and she fell to the ground.

Miroku stared down at the unconscious girl. If he leaned a little to the left, he was quite sure he would be able to see up her skirt.

Why, yes, indeed he could.

Crouching down to the ground and scooping one hand beneath her shoulders and one her knees, he hummed quietly to himself. She was a pretty one, for sure. She would fetch him a good deal since they wanted her so desperately. She would be enough to get rid of this damn hole in his hand.

Ignoring the stab of what little conscience he had left, he turned and walked off into the night.

oOoOoOoOo

There's only one good thing about mountains. They're a bitch to climb, always cold, not much game to hunt, but they always have caves. One of which I've chosen to be my sulking place. A rock is digging into my back, but I'm to stubborn to move. Normally I wouldn't even feel it.

It's the new moon, the one night out of every month that I'm no longer an outcast. I turn into a weakling instead. Can't smell, can't hear, can't see, and my body is so fragile it's being bothered by a rock. No wonder the humans have to breed so much, use all that technology. They simply can't survive otherwise.

I feel a twinge of guilt as I think of the wench, but I'm not too worried. The bounty hunter is dead, and it'll take more than a couple of nights to send another one. That perverted headman is dead, for the better. The only thing that'll hurt her is herself.

Finally I give in and shift to the side, away from that damn rock.

Stupid human body.

oOoOoOoOo

"What do you want?" Kagome demanded the darkness where her captor was hiding, wriggling to try and ease the pressure off her bound wrists. They were starting to tingle, and she knew that the bindings were too tight. She could not see further than the small ring of firelight from the tiny campfire, but she knew he was there. Strange as it was, she could… feel him. It was niggling at the outside of her mind, almost like she was inside a bubble and something was pressing the outside of it.

"I know you're there. Whatever it is, I won't give it to you! And… and you'll be sorry when InuYasha finds out you've taken me!"

The man chuckled, and she squinted harder.

"Where was he tonight, my dear? What makes you think he hasn't abandoned you?"

"He hasn't!" was all she had in response. Besides, he _would _not. Would he?

Somehow she knew the man was smiling.

"You are a naïve young woman. There are things about this world that you simply do not understand."

That was probably the worst thing he could have said to her at that point. She_knew_ she did not understand, and she was sick of people telling her that. How was she supposed to learn, anyway!

The bubble was under more strain, as if he was pressing it on purpose. Seizing on the inspiration she had found against Yura, Kagome closed her eyes. _Come on. I'm calling you this time,_ she begged. The same strange sensation built inside her body, filling her chest and head.

She grasped the power, imagined the man pressing against her bubble, and_pushed_ him away from it.

There was a strangled cry from the dark, followed by gasping as the man fought for breath.

"Such power," he wheezed. The presence touching her awareness was gone. Kagome shook slightly, feeling irrationally tired yet her being tingling with an alien invigoration.

"Let me go," she ordered.

His breathing was laboured, but he still managed to chuckle again. "Now I see why they want you. With that power harnessed…" He left the sentence unfinished, and Kagome did not much want to hear more.

"This is the last time I'm asking. Let me go, or I'll make you."

There was silence, and then her captor stepped forward into the light. It flickered in his eyes and a shiver ran down her spine. There was no expression in his face, simply cold desolation. What would it be like to feel so lost?

Slowly he smiled at her.

"Please. Try."


End file.
